Cancer-causing Bisphenols in Cash Receipts!
All Samples Detected with BPA Exceeded the Safety Limit Again!
Dhaka 11th April 2022: Bisphenol A or BPA is considered an endocrine disruptor and can have adverse health effects, such as breast cancer, prostate cancer, infertility, diabetes, and obesity, study report. Environment and Social Development Organization-ESDO publishes a follow-up research report titled ‘Transaction with Toxins: BPA in Cash Receipts’ in a virtual event today.
The study was conducted collaboratively by ESDO in association with Financial Industry Public Interest Foundation and Wonjin Institute for Occupational and Environmental Health – WIOEH, Seoul, South Korea.
According to the study findings, about 97% of the total collected cash receipts sample from 40 different places are made of thermal paper, and among that 97% of thermal paper, 69% of them include BPA and 26% have BPS. Among the 67 collected samples, only 2 collected samples from one local franchise store were detected as “not thermal paper”. These 67 receipts were collected from 40 places, and only 1 store’s receipts (2 receipts) were detected as non-thermal paper. All the receipt samples have a concentration range of BPA 0.83~1.71% and BPS 0.61~0.96% which exceeded the EU standard. The samples were collected from Public Offices, local franchise stores, Large major supermarkets, small supermarkets or convenience stores, Bank number tickets, and Delivery receipts or general retail shops.
In ESDO’s previous study in 2019, 36 samples were collected and tested for BPA. Among the 36 sample receipts, 5 receipts are from ATM booths, 6 from fast food shops, 2 from bakeries, and 3 each from restaurants, stationery, sweets, brand, and pharmacy. 3 receipts were collected from ATM machines, 2 from cash register machines, and the rest of the 6 receipts are from card machines. All the samples have BPA which shows us the severity of the situation ranges from 10 – 53 μg/cm2 which is 0.8% to 3.7% by weight, which exceeded the EU standard of 0.02%. Besides, a baseline survey was conducted physically on total of 1350 people and it was found that 0% surveyed population was unknown or unaware of BPA-containing thermal paper and its harmful effects.
Research says BPA & BPS are endocrine disruptors that mimic hormones like estrogen and thyroid hormones, disrupting the body’s normal functioning. In receipts, they are present in loose powder, which easily leaves a very high concentration of the chemical on peoples’ fingers. A recent study also showed their presence in urine levels before and after two hours of continuously handling receipts. This proved that cashiers and other workers who handle thermal paper have more of these chemicals in their bodies than the rest of us. The fetuses of pregnant workers who handle toxic receipts may be the most vulnerable to exposure.
Chief Guest of the event, Syed Marghub Murshed, Chairperson of ESDO and Former Secretary of Bangladesh expressed his concern over the issue and said “The threat posed by BPA in receipts should not be neglected; he also focuses on public awareness and regulatory actions.”
Professor Dr. Mohammad Robed Amin, Line Director, Non-Communicable Disease Control Programme, Directorate General of Health Services attend the event as Guest of Honor and said that BPA is mostly used in polycarbonate plastics, epoxy resins, and in thermal papers, People should use glass and stainless steel instead of plastic (for water bottles, storage containers, and baby bottles, for example) to avoid BPA. Considering children and pregnant women are particularly sensitive to BPA, the risks to their health and the environment must be evaluated and regulated.
Guest Speaker of the event, Dr. Yun-Keun Lee, Executive Director, Wonjin Institute for Occupational & Environmental Health (WIOEH) said, “BPA is a hormone-like substance that has been linked to reproductive problems in fetuses, infants, adolescents, and adults. EDC exposure and consequences can occur at very low concentrations, much below the regulatory threshold, meaning that there is likely no such thing as a safe EDC level.”
Another Guest Speaker, Dr. Md. Mahbubur Rahman, Project Coordinator, Environmental Intervention Unit, icddr,b, stated “EDC is a new concern, and it’s critical to focus on removing EDCs that disproportionately harm the most vulnerable, such as women of reproductive age, the unborn fetus, and children.”
Thermal paper is often used in cash register receipts in restaurants, grocery stores, and ATM booths, according to ESDO study team leader Dr. Shahriar Hossain. ‘BPA and BPS from thermal paper can pass into the bloodstream more quickly. At the levels seen in this study, the risk of diseases such as diabetes, neurological imbalance, and even cancer escalates,” he stated.
Tripti Arora from IPEN said that ‘BPA is still widely used and is only prohibited in a few products. What’s more alarming is the growing usage of related bisphenols, which exacerbates the danger to human health and the environment, he added
Siddika Sultana, Executive Director of ESDO, called for a strict regulation for BPA and BPS coated receipts to reduce human and environmental exposure to this harmful chemical.
The event was also participated by EDCs project group members from South Asian countries. Besides, ESDO board members, Govt. officials, national and international organizations, and Journalists from print and electronic media were also present at the event.
For more information please contact:
Hridita Ferdous
Assistant Program Officer – ESDO
Email: info@esdo.org,
hridita@esdo.org
Mobile: +8801726053420
