I probably shouldn’t admit how much I sympathize with this person.
Do you ever go into the grocery store to pick up a few things, only to have a sneaking suspicion that your store is trying to kill you? I mean really, grocery stores are pretty dangerous places when you think about it and I’m not just talking about wet floor signs, sharp twistie ties and precarious floor displays. I’m not even talking about the awful lighting in the dressing rooms at Target that caused the Great Swimsuit Meltdown of ’06. Heck, I’m not even talking about how they all dedicate an entire aisle to candy and then another whole section to seasonal candy which is both the blessing and bane of my existence these days so close to Easter, a.k.a. jelly bean open season.
In today’s edition of Things I Probably Shouldn’t Be Worried About Yet The More I Tell Myself To Stop The More I Think About It Pink Elephant, I’m talking grocery receipts. According to a recent study out of the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, 100% of people of who handled laser-printed grocery store receipts tested positive for having the carcinogen bisphenol A (BPA) in their urine. But that’s not the scary part. The truly terrifying piece of information is that 83% of the subjects also had it in the urine before handling the receipts.
BPA, also known as the reason everyone had to buy new water bottles for the gym a decade ago, is everywhere. It’s most known for being in hard plastic containers like baby bottles and water bottles (who likes babies and healthy people, anyhow??) but the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences says you can also find it in the lining of canned foods, water-supply pipes, medical devices and dental sealants among other things. So I guess I should have titled this “Your store cashier, doctor, dentist and plumber are trying to kill you”?
This is a problem because BPA is a known hormone-disruptor and has been linked in research to increased risk of several types of cancer, liver damage and is also thought to be an obesogen. Research has found that obese people have higher levels of BPA in their system than smaller counterparts and while the cause-effect relationship remains unclear, I would guess that since it acts as a weak estrogen in the body and estrogen is a fat-storing hormone that it would make sense if the chemical contributed to obesity. (Which is something I like to point out when people tell me that people gain weight simply because they lack willpower and/or are too dumb to count calories. We live in a toxic environment that sabotages people’s health efforts, regardless of weight, on all levels including a molecular one.)
But back to the scary stuff! A study published this month concluded that BPA has “genetic, epigenetic and endocrine disruption mechanisms with the possible involvement of oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction and cell signaling.” That’s science-speak for it messes with all the systems that run your body. (Will no one think of the mitochondria? Someone call Charles-Wallace and Meg!!)
The FDA, the government body tasked with keeping carcinogens out of baby bottles and water-supply lines, has a rebuttal: CALM YO’ SELF. Okay, I might have paraphrased a wee bit. Here’s their official position from their press release:
Research has shown that people are exposed to BPA because small amounts can migrate into the food and beverages from their containers. Reports from some animal studies have raised potential concerns that BPA exposure may cause multiple health problems, including reproductive disorders, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
There have also been studies that contend that BPA is a hazard to people too. But FDA—as well as the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA)—has carefully assessed these studies and finds no convincing evidence to support that belief.
The regulatory agency must objectively weigh all the evidence, says Keefe. “We make public health decisions based on a careful review of well performed studies, not based on claims or beliefs. We have to perform an unbiased evaluation of the data,” he says.
I love me some unbiased evaluations! But seriously I have no idea what this means. Taken all together I think we conclude from these studies that a) There is no way to not be exposed to BPA as it’s everywhere and b) You still might want to take reasonable precautions to avoid it. Here are a few things I brainstormed (your welcome!):
1. Wear gloves. At all times. Not only will it protect you from BPA and latent fecal matter but if you decide to commit a crime you won’t have to worry about fingerprints.
2. Ask the cashier to just put the receipt in the bag and then slowly back away with her hands in the air.
3. Give all receipts a tongue bath and tell people that if you’re going to die young then at least you’ll die doing what you love. Put hidden cameras in the room to capture their honest reactions.
4. Buy all your groceries at The Home Depot because they will automatically e-mail you your receipt if you want. What? They have beef jerky, nuts, slim jims, chips, candy and energy drinks! You’ll have plenty of well-rounded meal options.
Okay, fine, you want some real tips?
1. Avoid clear plastics. There are plenty of glass, wood and metal options for food containers these days.
2. Don’t cook in plastic dishes and don’t cook with plastic wrap over the top of your food.
3. Filter your tap water. A standard activated charcoal filter does remove BPA.
4. Don’t drink out of plastic water bottles.
5. Grow out your nails so you can pick up receipts using only the tips. (I’d tell you to get false tips but apparently nail resin also has BPA.) Or just don’t touch the ink?
But whatever you do, don’t google it. Because what I learned tonight is that BPA is only one of many endocrine disruptors in our environment and it’s not even the worst one. So maybe I’ll just go back to spit-polishing my apple on my shirt and pretending that counts as a wash.
Do you guys worry about crap in your grocery store killing you too? What’s your reaction when you read studies like this – do you do your best to fix whatever the problem is or do you just go all Jesus-take-the-wheel and read a novel instead? Do you take any steps to avoid BPA? And if so, share your tips!
BTW, the internet is a goldmine of hilarious receipts if you need a good giggle today!!
Love the Wrinkle in Time reference. I heart you
Came to the comments just to say this, but you beat me too it 😉
So did I! 🙂
Same here! The Wrinkle in Time shout out absolutely made my day!
Awww… so glad you all liked it! (And got it!!) Those were the best books. And I heart you too:)
Chuck Norris does all of his grocery shopping at Home Depot.
It is also said that when the Boogeyman goes to bed he checks his closet for Chuck Norris.
But I digress.
I had a thought…I don’t know…
…maybe…
…perhaps…
…they could figure out something is damaging to people’s health…
…BEFORE the mass distribution of it?
Not put things like that on the market/in products in the first place?
That would seem the smarter approach.
Then there is the added aspect of this: ” There have also been studies that contend that BPA is a hazard to people too. But FDA—as well as the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA)—has carefully assessed these studies and finds no convincing evidence to support that belief.”
So…in studies like this, since you asked Charlotte, my reaction would be…
…this appears to be “much ado about nothing”? Chicken Little?
The Boogeyman?
Perhaps we should call Chuck Norris.
Chuck Norris fixes all!
“Jesus take the wheel”. I love it. I laughed out loud when I read that line.
Then my work here is done;)
Hah! I could totally do the math on that receipt IN MY HEAD (no counting on my fingers or anything!!). Ok, so that’s not much of an accomplishment for a grown azz woman but. . .wait, no, I’m taking it. I can rock the socks off of “money math” like calculating tips and discounts at stores and making change. Any other math? Not so much.
As for BPAs, I have checked the worry schedule and I just can’t squeeze them in. I’m too busy fretting over my cats getting the cancer from (fill in the blank) or how ugly I look when I’m running (wiggle it, just a little bit!) or how that time three years ago I got all drunken and acted a fool and it was super embarrassing and my “friend” got it on video and made me look at it and it’s still super embarrassing and now she wants me to return to the scene of the crime for another party and just NO!
Yeah, so BPAs need to just find somewhere else to be worried about.
This: “As for BPAs, I have checked the worry schedule and I just can’t squeeze them in. I’m too busy fretting over my cats getting the cancer from (fill in the blank) or how ugly I look when I’m running (wiggle it, just a little bit!) or how that time three years ago I got all drunken and acted a fool and it was super embarrassing and my “friend” got it on video and made me look at it and it’s still super embarrassing and now she wants me to return to the scene of the crime for another party and just NO! Yeah, so BPAs need to just find somewhere else to be worried about.” made me laugh so hard I freaked my cat out:) You are awesome.
When I saw your “tip” about wearing gloves all the time I thought, “But what about BPA in gloves?!?”.
Ahhhhh that didn’t even occur to me!! So, um, thank you:)
I do not trust the FDA at all…thinking of their stance in GMOs.
Good point.
Oh crap, somehow I only thought I had to worry about what I was putting IN my cart unless I was a cashier handling those things all day. Since absolutely nothing I buy is tax deductible, I don’t need to be collecting them. In fact I may try to picture them already soaked in bpa-filled urine… hoping the gross visual will keep me from touching that nasty stuff.
I know, so many things to worry about… and thanks for adding that visual to my list;)
LOL! Ya gotta die. And I’d rather die from the purpose God already has in my file than from stressing about all the crap man is putting in my other crap. I just can’t get all worked up over this stuff. But I love that YOU get all excited about it and then write an awesome blog telling us how to deal with it. I had the same thought about the plastic gloves. I keep a box of them on my kitchen counter, but for handling raw chicken (and other chicken … by-products. I have 120 of ’em so there is a LOT of chicken by-product around our place. A bigger issue, maybe, than BPA…)
PS – Miss SAT Essay Grader – after brainstorm, it’s You’re welcome, not your welcome… grin (I’m the world’s WORST writer, so it fills me with glee to find a mistake – it’s pretty rare for me to even notice…)
Hahah good catch on the grammar! That’s what happens when I blog late at night… And I’m really kind of jealous of your chickens. I’ve always wanted chickens! And a goat.
Actually, I follow most of your serious tips and also grow and can my own tomatoes and try to buy things in glass jars in general. Other than that, Jesus-take-the-wheel for sure on this one.
Oooh I’m so jealous of your home-canned tomatoes!!
As a labrat, I still just try and stay away from plastic wrap and use nalgene or metal bottles for carrying water-they are lab grade plastic. If I can use them in a lab to store control solutions for trace analysis they should be good enough for me too. In the kitchen I use glass when I can. Thing is-There are other compounds molecularly similar to BPA out there too, and BPA usually can contains them instead and they are just as bad, so I just try my best and get on with life…
BPA FREE things usually can contain molecular analogs, I meant to say! Hope that makes more sense.
So interesting about the molecular analogs – the research study did mention that possibility. Good point about only worrying about things I can control:) And I too try to use glass or steel as much as possible. Why don’t people make more wood dishes??
So is it just the ink that is bad? For some reason I thought the paper itself was also bad. I’ve known it’s bad to handle them but I should try to avoid them more. At least they had regular paper back when I was a cashier.
Oooh I don’t know? I hadn’t read anything about the paper. I used to be a cashier too – probably good I didn’t know anything about BPA back then. Although I can still reel off the produce codes for most common items! Bananas – 4022!
Grocery store? Oh, yeah. That’s the place I’ve been to a few times to buy pyrex.
I did notice that they seemed to have a few aisles with something that at least vaguely resembled food.
I agree with Darwin here, if there are products in the market that can cause serious hazard to our health then the FDA should be the one accountable for approving the release. I think water plastic bottles are not that much of a health hazard. I mean, they have expiry dates written in their labeling and that should be the extent of the bottle’s use. I think the common mistake is reusing those plastic bottles for drinking storage. We are much exposed to viruses that can be contracted through hand contact by someone inflicted, or by germs gathered in our personal belongings. The solution for this possible exposure to health hazard viruses is to sanitize.