Toxic Impressions: BPA in thermal paper

A report by Toxics Link, 2017

Thermal papers are widely used to print the sale receipts in various sectors like grocery stores, gas stations and bank ATMs to ensure fast and accurate services. This paper is also used by the ticketing agencies, lottery systems and other businesses, which require accurate and high volume printouts.

In this study, twelve unused thermal paper samples from both known and local brands of different manufacturers and suppliers were randomly collected from different markets in New Delhi. We found BPA in concentration between 300 ppm and 6600 ppm in thermal papers with the average levels of 3037 ppm, which is exceedingly high and can have serious adverse impacts on human health and environment.

The report suggests the need to regulate BPA in thermal paper in India and shift to the better alternatives to prevent the BPA exposure in the environment and human health.

Globally efforts are being made to phase out or restrict the use of BPA in thermal papers considering the precautionary principle. Countries like Japan, Belgium, Denmark, Canada and France have banned the use of BPA in thermal papers and EU has set limit of 200 PPM.

 

Download the Report: http://toxicslink.org/docs/BPA%20-%20Thermal%20Paper.pdf