Shopping receipts ‘could cause cancer and autism because of dangerous chemicals’
Shopping receipts could be putting people at risk of cancer – because ‘dangerous’ chemicals are used in the paper.
A study has found that up to 90% of them contain BPA (bisphenolA), which can affect a person’s hormone balance.
This may lead to diseases such as breast cancer, a research paper warns.
And BPA could also be responsible for infertility, autism, ADHD and type 2 diabetes, leading experts to warn receipts should not come into contact with food.
It affects receipts whose ink fades with time, the University of Grenada research team has found.
The fresh warning comes after researchers from the Spanish university analysed thermal paper receipts from Brazil, Spain and France.
Prof Nicolás Olea said: "We can recognise this kind of paper because it instantly turns black if we put it close to a heat source like, for example, a match."
His team found that 90% of receipts in Spain and Brazil, and 50% in France, contained BPA.
He said: "Tickets should not get in contact with food – for instance, meat or fish – while unpacking it in the kitchen.
"Moreover, we should not crumple the tickets to throw them in the trash, play with them, write notes on them, or store them in cars, purses or handbags.
"In short, we should manipulate this kind of tickets as little as possible.
"They are easily identified by the customer since they are those receipts that, after some time, lose what they have printed on them and, when you are going to return the trousers you bought, the cashiers tell you that they cannot see anything.
"Very often, the only thing you find is a fine white powder that comes off when taking them out of the handbag or purse. BPA is, precisely, that white powder that sticks to your fingers."
The receipts were collected from a variety of businesses between January and April 2017.
Shop workers who handle large numbers of receipts have a far higher than average level of BPA in their systems, researchers said.
Read More
Top news stories from Mirror Online
First pic of family of boy in well Weather warnings for most of UK Chilling Nairobi attack CCTV Mum ‘saved by creme eggs’
Source: Read Full Article