Avoiding The Threat of BPA
Thank you to a recent restaurant guest, Barbara for enlightening us about BPA in thermal printer receipt paper.Receipt paper and BPAThe last thing that I want to do is add harm to my environment, my employees and my family. We had a lovely guest, Barbara, come in to the restaurant and ask us if there was BPA in our printer paper... and we looked at her cross eyed. BPA in the thermal paper? What do you mean? She then shared with us information that she had heard from a segment on NPR on the topic.I have always tried to avoid plastics for my family by getting stainless steal water bottles and glass baby bottles. We drink out of mason jars. I never thought about exactly what BPA is. I thought I would look it up this time, after this current shock.Safety of BPAAccording to the Mayo clinic, BPA is a chemical found in plastics that are safe in small doses. Does that sound comforting to you? Hey - I am just leaching some cocaine into your food in small doses - it's safe. Um, no, thank you. I don't want some governmental agency telling me not to worry about this chemical, it's no big deal.. it is just a little poison, not too much. I don't want to give my family a little bit of poison or yours for that matter.What does BPA do?Mother Jones, talks about BPA in a different light. It starts with this dark and mysterious package that makes you think about the agencies that are supposed to be protecting us:
Update (3/3/14): After this story went to press, the US Food and Drug Administration published a paper finding that BPA was safe in low doses. However, due to laboratory contamination, all of the animals—including the control group—were exposed to this chemical. Academic scientists say this raises serious questions about the study's credibility. Stay tuned for more in-depth reporting on the FDA's most recent study.
In the article, it states "the common plastic additive bisphenol A (BPA), which mimics the hormone estrogen and has been linked to a long list of serious health problems." And to get even scarier that article went on to say, "'almost all' commercially available plastics that were tested leached synthetic estrogens—even when they weren't exposed to conditions known to unlock potentially harmful chemicals, such as the heat of a microwave, the steam of a dishwasher, or the sun's ultraviolet rays. According to Bittner's research, some BPA-free products actually released synthetic estrogens that were more potent than BPA."Guess what happened? The "startling results set off a bitter fight with the $375-billion-a-year plastics industry." Of course it did. Money talks. Is that what we want to govern our health. Money? Politics. Big business?Risks of BPAAccording to Webmd, there are many risks caused by BPA. It can affect our hormone levels, cause brain and behavior problems, cancer, heart problems. It is especially dangerous for children.How can we avoid BPA?The David Suzuki foundation gives 12 ways to avoid BPA. Here are a few:
- Avoid aluminim cans
- Request no receipt (our next purchase of receipts will be BPA free)
- Avoid disposable cups by bringing your own
According to Environmental Working Groups, you can limit your exposure to BPA in receipts by:
- Saying no to receipts when possible
- Keeping receipts in an envelope
- Never give a child a receipt to hold or play with
- Washing your hands before preparing and eating food after handling receipts
- Do not recycle receipts and other thermal paper. BPA residues will contaminate recycled paper
Do you know of other places that BPA is lurking that might surprise us all?Photo Credit: nerissa's ring via Compfight cc