BPA Found On Money

We have been long following the ongoing controversy surrounding the ubiquitous polycarbonate plastic hardening chemical <"https://www.yourlawyer.com/practice_areas/toxic_substances">bisphenol A—BPA. We have also been following the growing number of consumer products in which the estrogenic mimicking toxin has been found.

We recently wrote that not only is BPA found in receipts, laboratory tests commissioned by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) revealed high levels of the endocrine-disrupting chemical on 40 percent of the receipts sampled from major U.S. businesses and services.

It’s not surprising that, now, BPA has been found on dollar bills, said The Body Odd. According to Erika Schreder, a scientist who led the study, a small sampling of bills were tested and found to contain traces of BPA. “Most people don’t expect to find a toxic chemical in their wallets,” said Schreder, quoted the Body Odd. Schreder works for the Washington Toxics Coalition in Seattle, which co-sponsored the report with Safer Chemicals Health Families, an advocacy group, said The Body Odd.

Although money has long been known to contain some contaminants including germs and cocaine, this is the first time bills have been linked to BPA, which can be found in canned foods, including baby formula; water bottles; appliances and windshields; baby bottles and sippy cups; eyeglasses; some dental sealants; cars; aquatic paints; and DVD and CD cases, to name just some. As a component, BPA can be verified if the item contains recycling number 7. Science Daily has pointed out that over six billion pounds of BPA are produced each year.

Schreder believes BPA rubs off store receipts onto bills. BPA has been found on the receipts of companies including McDonald’s, Chevron, CVS, KFC, Whole Foods, WalMart, Safeway, the U.S. Postal Service, and the U.S. House of Representatives cafeteria. Receipts from Target, Starbucks, Bank of America ATMs and other important enterprises were BPA-free or contained only trace amounts. The total amounts of BPA on receipts tested were 250 to 1,000 times greater than other, more widely discussed sources of BPA exposure, said EWG.

In this study, Schreder and other scientists tested 22 receipts originating from retailers in 10 states and Washington, D.C.; BPA was found in half the receipts tested, said The Body Odd. Of note, said The Body Odd, a Safeway receipt test with BPA amounts totaling about 2.2 percent of the receipt’s weight. A test of 22 dollar bills from people in 18 states and Washington, D.C. revealed that all but one bill tested positive for BPA at levels from .12 parts per million (PPM) to 11 ppm, said The Body Odd. “People should be concerned that there are unregulated uses of a hormone-disrupting chemical that are leading to widespread contamination in unexpected ways,” Schreder said, quoted The Body Odd.

Although industry scoffed at the findings, it is now widely known that hundreds of studies have linked BPA to cardiovascular disease, intestinal problems, brain cell connection interference, increased risks of reproductive and immune system diseases and disorders, problems with liver function testing, interruptions in chemotherapy, premature puberty, polycystic ovarian syndrome, and erectile dysfunction and male sexual problems.

BPA is found in the bodies of 93 percent of Americans and 90 percent of American newborns and a recent study revealed that human exposure to BPA is significantly higher than previously believed and also originates from a greater array of sources, many of which continue to remain unknown. Worse, we recently wrote that BPA is now known to be able to pass through skin.