Recycled thermal cash register receipts are a potential source of Bisphenol A (BPA) contamination in napkins, toilet paper, food packaging, and other paper products made from them.

Researchers at the New York State Department of Health (NY, USA) and the State University of New York (Albany, USA) measured concentrations of BPA in 15 types of paper products, including thermal receipts, flyers, magazines, tickets, mailing envelopes, newspapers, food contact papers, food cartons, airplane boarding passes, luggage tags, printing papers, business cards, napkins, paper towels, and toilet paper, collected from several cities in the USA; thermal receipt papers also were collected from Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. BPA coats the surfaces of thermal receipts, where it acts as a developer for the printing dye.

The results showed that BPA was found in 94% of thermal receipt papers, at concentrations ranging from below the limit of quantitation (LOQ, 1 ng/g) to 13.9 mg/g. The majority (81%) of other paper products contained BPA at concentrations ranging from below the LOQ to 14.4 μg/g. While thermal receipt papers contained the highest concentrations of BPA, some paper products, including napkins and toilet paper that were made from recycled papers, also contained measurable concentrations of BPA.

The researchers then determined the daily intake (DI) of BPA through dermal absorption, estimated according to the measured BPA concentrations and handling frequency of paper products. The daily intake of BPA calculated through dermal absorption from handling of papers was 17.5 and 1,300 ng/day for the general population and occupationally exposed individuals, respectively; these values are considered minor when compared with exposure through diet. Among paper products, thermal receipt papers contributed to the majority of the exposures. The study was published in the November 2011 issue of Environmental Science & Technology.

“Receipts contribute about 33.5 tons of BPA to the environment every year in the US and Canada,” concluded study coauthors Kurunthachalam Kannan, PhD, and Chunyang Liao, PhD. “Handling of paper products can contribute up to 2% of the total daily BPA exposures in the general population, and that fraction can be much higher in occupationally exposed individuals.”

BPA is an organic compound with two phenol functional groups used to make polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resins, along with other applications; concerns about the use of BPA in consumer products due to its estrogenic properties prompted some retailers to remove products containing it from their shelves. A 2010 report from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) raised further concerns regarding exposure of fetuses, infants, and young children. In September 2010, Canada became the first country to declare BPA as a toxic substance; in the European Union and Canada, BPA use is banned in the manufacture of baby bottles.

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