Attention pregnant shoppers: Study says those cash register receipts could harm your unborn child

January 18, 2023

Originally published in the National Post

Pregnant women are being warned to avoid reaching for credit card and cash register receipts, as researchers say the paper could be a threat to unborn children.

The receipts can contain the toxin bisphenol A and its chemical cousin, bisphenol S, chemicals that a new study shows can alter brain development and behaviour in animals exposed to extremely low doses.

The research published Monday by a team at the University of Calgary was done on zebrafish. But the findings are so worrying that lead researcher Deborah Kurrasch and her colleagues are calling for “removal of all bisphenols from consumer merchandise.”

They also “suggest that pregnant mothers limit exposure to plastics and receipts,” a recommendation that is echoed by other researchers familiar with the power of the endocrine-disrupting chemicals.

Read the full story here.