It’s official, we’re now 100% over-exposed to endocrine-disrupting bisphenol A (BPA). We already know about BPA in canned food products, water bottles, baby bottle, toys and other plastic products and now, a new study by John C. Warner, confirms that BPA can also be found in paper. Paper? Yup – BPA in paper is just one more thing for parents to think about. Super.
The new BPA paper report, published July 28 in Green Chemistry Letters and Reviews, comes just after the Environmental Working Group (EWG) released their research report about finding BPA in 40% of 36 printed receipts. The receipts that EWG tested were collected from fast food restaurants, big retailers, grocery stores, gas stations and post offices in seven states and the District of Columbia.
According to EWG, paper receipts containing BPA were collected from McDonald’s, CVS, KFC, Whole Foods, Walmart, Safeway and the U.S. Postal Service. The Missouri scientists employed by EWG found that “The total mass of BPA on a receipt is 250 to 1,000 times greater than the amount of BPA typically found in a can of food or a can of baby formula, or that which leaches from a BPA-based plastic baby bottle into its contents.”
Appleton Papers, which makes more than 50 percent of the receipt paper sold in the U.S., stopped using BPA in 2006. After reviewing available science we concluded removing BPA from our thermal products was the responsible thing to do. In doing so, we gave retailers and restaurants a safe, easy and cost-competitive choice. Our BPA-free thermal receipt paper is available globally.
We realize that many of our competitors continue to use BPA despite mounting concerns about its safety. We are actively participating in the EPA’s BPA Alternatives in Thermal Paper Partnership. We hope the remainder of the thermal paper industry moves away from potentially harmful BPA. More information about the partnership is available on the EPA website: http://www.epa.gov/dfe/pubs/projects/bpa/index.htm
For more information about Appleton and our BPA-free thermal paper products, visit http://www.appletonideas.com.