High levels of 'cancer chemical' found on till receipts, warn health campaigners

Till receipts and paper money contain high levels of bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical linked to cancer and early puberty, a study has found.

The chemical mimics the female hormone oestrogen and independently-funded scientists have long suggested it poses a risk to health - especially to young children.In the latest research, a team from two U.S campaigning groups tested till receipts made from thermal paper that they had collected from 22 popular retailers and cafes in America.

The chemical BPA is used to make ink visible on thermal till receipts. They found that half of them were coated with large quantities of BPA. The chemical is used to make ink visible on thermal till receipts. Holding the receipts for just 10 seconds caused up to 2.5 micrograms of BPA to transfer from the paper onto a person's fingers.

Meanwhile rubbing the receipts increased the amount of BPA transferred from the receipts onto fingers around 15-fold.

'Since BPA in thermal paper is present in a powdery film, we suspected it could easily travel from those receipts to other objects,' the researchers said. The researchers from the Washington Toxics Coalition and Safer Chemicals, Safer Families group, found the chemical on 21 of 22 bills tested, although in much lower levels than on the till receipts.

More than 130 studies over the past decade have linked even low levels of BPA to serious health problems, including breast cancer, obesity and early onset of puberty.

The European Union last month followed Canada's lead and banned the use of BPA in baby bottles after tests showed the petroleum product can affect neural development and behavior in lab rats exposed to the chemical in the womb or very early in life.

Last month, the World Health Organization said BPA does not accumulate in the body, but admitted that 'recent experimental and epidemiological studies found associations between low BPA exposure levels and some adverse health outcomes.'

In January the US Food and Drug Administration announced it has 'some concern' about BPA's possible effect on the brains of babies and young children after years of insisting it was safe.

BPA is still widely used in plastic water jugs, soft drink cans, mobile phone cases and computers. Andy Igrejas, director of Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families called on US lawmakers to toughen up the law that regulates chemicals in the United States in the light of the study's findings.

'BPA on receipts, dollar bills and in many other products is a direct result of the absurdly lax controls on chemicals in the United States,' he said.