Doctors have issued a health warning to anyone who gets receipts from a store after making a purchase.
Yep, you read that right - what may seem like an innocuous act in case you need to return an item may actually pose an adverse risk to your health.
This comes after an expert released a warning following recent research which revealed that the slips of paper we receive from stores could be posing a health threat.
Why do receipts pose a potential health risk?
So what is it about receipts that is causing an expert to raise the alarm? It turns out that the paper slips contain a chemical known as BPA (Bisphenol A), which is a common part of most thermal receipts that are widely used in the US.
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The chemical in question has been banned in the UK and the EU since 2020 and was replaced by BPS (Bisphenol S); however, there are still concerns about this chemical.
Why are BPA-coated receipts bad for your health?
Also found in various plastic consumer products, recent research suggests that BPA contains endocrine disruptors that can affect how our reproductive systems function.
This argument is supported by Dr Sabine Donnai, who is the founder of the US health clinic Viavi, and told the Zoe Science and Nutrition podcast: “[Receipts are] a big source, actually, of BPA exposure, and they've definitely seen in people that actually handle receipts very often, they’ve got very low levels of testosterone levels, they have infertility.”
Should you avoid touching receipts altogether?
When it comes to whether or not you should avoid touching receipts, Donnai noted that anyone who is handed a receipt now and again will likely be okay, while those who work in retail situations should take more caution.
“I’ll be the first one to say ‘no, I don’t want the receipt, I don’t wanna touch that’ [although] getting a receipt once a day is maybe not a problem,” she explained.
“People that work on a till and give out receipts every day, I feel like wanna shout out and say ‘don’t do this! Or wear specific gloves like nitrile (latex-free rubber) gloves’.”
Although, as many retailers move towards paperless receipts, this will hopefully decrease the problem over the coming years.