Shopping receipts could 'increase your cancer risk – as 90% contain dangerous chemicals'

Researchers found up to nine in ten shop receipts contain a hormone-disrupting chemical also linked to diabetes, obesity and genital deformities.

They warn shoppers not to let them come into contact with food and not to scrunch them into a ball when throwing them away.

Scribbling notes on the receipts or keeping them in a purse or wallet may also pose a danger, the University of Granada scientists say.

They analysed 112 thermal paper receipts from Brazil, Spain, and France for traces of bisphenol A (BPA), which alters hormonal balance.

Nine in ten from Brazil and Spain and half from France contained BPA. Many of the alternatives contained BPS – a similarly harmful chemical.

Retail experts say the offending receipts are also used in the UK but the academics did not examine how common they are here.

They can be identified by holding the paper to a heat source and seeing if it turns black. Any print on them also fades after a while.

Study leader Prof Nicolás Olea 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.”

He added: “These receipts are easily identified by the customer since they are those receipts that, after some time, lose what they have printed on them

“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.

What is BPA and why is it so dangerous?

What's BPA used for?

BPA is used to make plastics, including materials that come into contact with food, as is legal in the UK.

These include refillable drinks bottles and food storage containers, as well as the protective coatings and linings for food and drinks cans.

It is also used to make protective coatings for the inside of food and drink cans and to develop dye in thermal paper, which is used for shop sales receipts, and public transport and parking tickets.

Why's it so dangerous? 

Members of the European Chemicals Agency committee have warned that BPA can disrupt the body’s endocrine system, which is the collection of glands that produce hormones.

These disruptions can cause serious health issues including infertility and aggression in girls as young as three.

The chemical can mimic the female sex hormone, oestrogen, and some studies have found it affects the development of breast tissue, increasing a woman's risk of breast cancer, according to Breast Cancer UK.

It's worth standing that Cancer Research UK doesn't think there's much scientific evidence to support the claim that BPA increases a person's risk of cancer, while the Food Standard Authority has said that there's no need to panic.

Their website states: “Independent studies have shown that, even when consumed at high levels, BPA is rapidly absorbed, detoxified, and eliminated from humans.”

“BPA is, precisely, that white powder that sticks to your fingers.”

Dr Anna Watson, from chemical campaign group the CHEM Trust, said: “BPA has been linked to very worrying human health impacts, including increased risk of breast cancer, impaired sperm counts and impacts on diabetes and obesity.

“Recently there have been meagre steps to phase BPA out of consumer products, such as babies’ bottles and till receipts from 2020, but it remains in many other consumer products like food can linings.

“We need more action to make sure BPA is removed from all products we come into contact with every day – but that the industry does not just replace it with other bisphenol chemicals, which are also linked to similar health impacts.”

David Bolton, from the British Retail Consortium, said: “BRC Members are aware of the issues associated with BPA and have either moved to alternatives or are in the process of reviewing its use.

“We take the health and safety of both our staff and customers very seriously, and will continue to work with legislators to improve safety in the retail environment.”

This isn't the first study to find a link between paper receipts and potentially dangerous chemicals either.

Last year, scientists tested 207 receipts in Detroit and found that 93 per cent of them contained BPA and Bisphenol S (BPS).

Many of us carrying around traces of plastic in our bodies.

In fact, a previous study by the University of Exeter found that a whopping 80 per cent of British teenagers have traces of BPA in their body, potentially harming their fertility.

The latest findings are published in the journal Environmental Research.

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