Purchase receipts where ink is removed contain substances that cause cancer and infertility, according to a study
An international study led by the research group A-15 of Basic and Clinical Oncology of the ibs.GRANADA, indicates that 90 percent of the receipts that they give us in stores and supermarkets are made with thermal paper and contain bisphenol-A (BPA )
It is a known endocrine disruptor that alters the hormonal balance in exposed people and leads to hormonal diseases such as genitourinary malformations, infertility, obesity and cancer in hormone-dependent organs, such as the breast
The researchers caution that tickets should not be mixed with food in the kitchen when unpacking the purchase, for example, fish or meat. Nor should we play with them, or crumple them to throw them away, write notes or keep them in the car, purse or bag
90 percent of the purchase tickets or receipts, those in which the ink is erased over time because they are made with the so-called "thermal paper", contain bisphenol-A (BPA), a known endocrine disruptor that It alters the hormonal balance in exposed people and leads to hormonal diseases such as genitourinary malformations, infertility, obesity, and cancer in hormone-dependent organs, such as the breast.
This is revealed by a study led by the University of Granada (UGR), in which researchers from the Biosanitary Research Institute of Granada (ibs.GRANADA), the San Cecilio University Hospital of Granada participate; the Université Paris Descartes and the Necker Enfants Malades Hospital in Paris (France) and the National School of Public Health in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil).
At present, there is great concern about the inadvertent exposure of the general population to bisphenol-A. The industry has sought alternatives for the progressive replacement of BPA in many of its applications, such as the thermal paper used in tickets and receipts.
"We can recognize this type of paper because, if we bring a heat source near it, for example, a match, it blackens instantly," explains the former scientific director of the ibs.GRANADA Nicolas Olea, which together with Jose Manuel Molina, of the ibs.GRANADA, are the main authors of the work. One of these options seems to be the use of bisphenol-S (BPS) which has a molecular structure somewhat similar to BPA, but with an introduction of a sulfur atom (S) instead of a carbon (C) in its formula.
In this article, published in the magazine Environmental Research, Researchers have analyzed the presence of both BPA and BPS in the thermal paper receipts that we use in our daily lives, as well as the hormonal activity of the extracts from these receipts.
Study with 112 tickets from Brazil, Spain and France
To do this, they studied 112 thermal paper receipts from Brazil, Spain and France. "For the user, they are easy to identify, since they are those receipts that lose their print over time and when you go to return the pants you bought, the clerk tells you that you can't see anything," explains Olea. “Many times the only thing you find is a fine white powder that comes off when you take them out of your wallet or purse. BPA is precisely that white powder that stains your fingers.”
In the study led by the ibs.GRANADA, more than 90% of the receipts collected in Brazil and in Spain have BPA and the biological anti-androgenic hormonal activity is present in all those that contain BPA.
However, only half of France's receipts have BPA, confirming that the French government has taken steps since 2014 to reduce the compound in thermal paper in order to protect the population.
“The bad thing is that the French alternative seems to be the BPS, which we have found fundamentally in the receipts of that country and rarely in the Spanish and Brazilian ones. Unfortunately, BPS is also an endocrine disruptor, with greater environmental persistence and therefore, it cannot be a valid option”, highlights the UGR professor.
Despite this, researchers fear that its use will increase in the coming years, since its regulation is not as strict as that which has been established around BPA.
More vigilance
“It is one more example that something is failing in the monitoring systems for the toxicity of chemical compounds in our environment. It would seem that regulatory measures are established a posteriori, when human exposure is already evident. In fact, the protection of hundreds of thousands of young people working as cashiers in supermarkets and shops is not being carried out with the rigor that would be convenient”, warns Nicolás Olea.
Until the Spanish government takes measures in this regard, or while shops, restaurants and businesses take notice, the researchers recommend that the population proceed with caution.
“For example, we must not mix the tickets with the food in the kitchen when unpacking the purchase, the fish or the meat. Neither should we play with them, nor crumple them to throw them away, write notes or keep them in the car, purse or bag”, indicates Olea. "We must, in short, manipulate this type of ticket as little as possible."
While measures are being taken in the face of what could be an important public health problem, "we must reject thermal paper receipts and demand that the substitution of BPA in thermal paper promised in Spain for 2020 not be done by replacing it with thermal paper with BPS”.
Bibliographic reference:
Determination of bisphenol A and bisphenol S concentrations and assessment of estrogen- and anti-androgen-like activities in thermal paper receipts from Brazil, France, and Spain
Molina-Molina JM, Jiménez-Díaz I, Fernández MF, Rodríguez-Carrillo A, Peinado FM, Mustieles V, Barouki R, Piccoli C, Olea N, Freire C.
Environmental Research
Volume 170, March 2019, Pages 406-415