Environmental Working Group did a study on paper receipts from various places and found BPA on 40 percent of them. Sometimes in amounts over 1000 times that found in the lining of cans. One thousand times?! How can that be allowed?

Think about it, we’re worried about drinking water from BPA containing water bottles and how that will get ingested and affect us. Here are receipts that we carry around for quite awhile sometimes, that we touch many times, many people and they contain even more BPA. I know I’m guilty of handing the receipt to my little ones as we exit a store, unknowingly exposing them to even more BPA than the water bottles I refuse to allow them to use.

Think about the store workers that spend all day handing out those receipts. What about business owners with stacks of receipts for tax purposes? How about the accountant? What other papers contain BPA?

I’m going to quote this paragraph from washingtonpost.com because I feel it really gets the point across:

Among those surveyed, receipts from Safeway supermarkets contained the highest concentration of BPA. A receipt taken from a store in the District contained 41 milligrams of the chemical. If the equivalent amount of BPA was ingested by a 155-pound adult, that would exceed EPA’s decades-old safe exposure limit for BPA by 12 times.

This very long article is worth a read. There’s also information about what store receipts were tested and what they contained. A study was released that shows that BPA does penetrate the skin, so we know we’re absorbing it from our receipts. EWG simply used a wet wipe on the receipt and then tested the BPA content. If it was that easy to transfer to the wipe, it’s that easy to transfer to our hands.

The type of receipts that contain BPA are thermal paper receipts. To check your receipt, rub it with a coin. Thermal paper will discolor, while normal paper does not. This type of paper is commonly used for store receipts, prescription labels, lottery and airline tickets.

Sometimes I feel like we should all just live in a bubble. Maybe I should drop my lottery habit.

I use Environmental Working Group’s Cosmetics Safety Database (also known as Skin Deep) to find safer products for my family. If you’ve been following me, you know I spend a lot of time moving the chemicals out and the safe stuff in. Take some time and check the products you use often, you’ll be surprised at how many are linked to cancer. As Annie says, don’t let the words “natural” or “organic” fool you. Currently, there is no law regulating cosmetics and that needs to change.

Along with Annie, I encourage you to join the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. Let’s make our products safe. Democracy in Action makes it super easy for you to let your elected officials know that you want them to support the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010. Please go send your message! Then spread the word about Annie’s film to your friends and family and get them to pass the message on as well.

Go, watch, NOW!

These bags come in two sizes and can be used for many things – dirty clothes, wet clothes, dirty diapers, gym clothes, bathing suits, etc. They come in 2 sizes: 11×14 and 14×17. Orginal retail price is $17.95 and $21.95, but select styles are being cleared out at $8-$12. And, as an added bonus, they are Made in the USA. That’s always a big plus for me!

I think I’m going to go with the DotTastic (pictured above) bag this time. What about you? Get it at Mini Me Baby Gear now before it’s gone!

At first thought, it looks perfectly fine and innocent. What a great picture, right? What a lot of us don’t realize is that those goals are actually quite dangerous. If not anchored properly, they can tip over and do at times result in death.

To quote Anchored for Safety, “A gust of wind…a young player…an uneven playing field…In their current design, only 22 pounds of force can bring a 400-pound goal crashing down, injuring – even killing – a player.”

Take a moment to educate yourself on the dangers of soccer goals. Then contact your club to make sure they’re doing what they can to keep all kids safe on the field, both during games and during practice.

Here’s my previous post – Soccer Safety