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As if holiday shopping weren’t stressful enough, a new report says the dwindling stash of cash in your wallet might be tainted with the controversial chemical BPA.
Tests on a small sample of dollar bills found traces of bisphenol A, the hormone-mimicking chemical linked to health problems from infertility and cancer to early puberty and obesity, said Erika Schreder, a scientist who led the study.
“Most people don’t expect to find a toxic chemical in their wallets,” said Schreder, who works for the Washington Toxics Coalition in Seattle, which co-sponsored the report with the advocacy group Safer Chemicals Health Families.
This isn’t the first time currency has been linked to nasty contaminants. Other studies have found bills to be tainted with germs, bacteria -- even cocaine.
But it is among new findings to suggest that cash contributes to BPA exposure already found in canned foods, baby bottles and water bottles.
The BPA likely rubbed off on the money from store receipts, which have been found to be loaded with the chemical used in thermal paper printing, Schreder said. Previous studies have shown that BPA-laced receipts are issued by major retailers such as CVS, KFC and the U.S. Postal service, and that the powder-like substance can stick to people’s fingers and get in their mouths.
In this new study, Schreder and other scientists tested 22 receipts from retailers in 10 states and Washington, D.C., and detected BPA in half of them. In a receipt from Safeway, for instance, BPA accounted for 2.2 percent of the receipt's total weight.
Then they tested 22 dollar bills from the wallets of people in 18 states and Washington, D.C. Twenty-one of the bills tested positive for BPA at levels ranging from .12 parts per million to 11 parts per million. Government officials generally agree that BPA doses should remain below 50 milligrams of BPA per kilogram of body weight per day, but too few studies have been conducted to determine definitively actual levels of BPA exposure or the health effects of those exposures.
That adds to the arguments in pending bills in Congress that call for better regulation of potentially dangerous chemicals, Schreder said. Government health officials have expressed concern about the effects of BPA on unborn and very young children.
“People should be concerned that there are unregulated uses of a hormone-disrupting chemical that are leading to widespread contamination in unexpected ways,” Schreder said.
But at least one critic said that testing 22 dollar bills for BPA contamination hardly counts as a scientific sample. The U.S. Treasury Department printed 2.6 billion $1 bills last year alone.
“I hear these kinds of reports and my first reaction is to shrug and say, ‘So what?’’’ said Neal Langerman, a chemist and member of the health and safety division of the American Chemical Society. "The data don't even rise to the level of speculation."
BPA is ubiquitous, Langerman agreed, but he said there's little evidence so far to suggest that low levels of exposure lead to major health hazards.
There’s little doubt that BPA rubs from receipts onto money, Langerman agreed. On that point, he and Schreder offered similar advice to consumers worried about dirty money: Wash your hands.
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“Most people don’t expect to find a toxic chemical in their wallets."
Really? I've always heard cash was pretty freaking dirty so I'm not at all surprised by this.
Bingo kash. Money is dirty and nasty. It's one of the many reasons that so many of us seldom carry cash.
Hey you! Watchout! Everything's coming to getcha! Not only behind you, in front of you, and by every other ethnic group ever, but now mainstream media is trying to get you scared of money. What's next? Come on, there has to be ten million more things we cna be scared of that make no difference whatsoever.
LOVE IT............KYLE
I just wish I could be around your hospital bed during your last couple of days on this earth and listen to the reasons you give relieving the chemical, oil, and coal industries of their responsibility in putting you in that bed. Enjoy the myriad diseases propagated by these industries on humanity. True we "need "some of their products but we do not need their poisons.
The leading cause of death on the planet is birth. We all die, no matter what you do you can never change it. You can run everyday, and your body will fall apart. You can eat healthy and you will still have genetic problems.
Live the life you have and stop worrying.
There is also lots of cocaine and other drugs on paper money.
And if you go to Miami, and make any purchases and get change at local convenience stores, you can test your hands and discover traces of cocaine on them, because all the paper money there is contaminated with cocaine.
It's not just in Miami, LOL!
This Neal Langerman, sounds like an idiot... "The data don't even rise to the level of speculation."
It's like me saying... I doesn't really care about this article...
Really? Because he made one error, Neal Langerman sounds like an idiot?
People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
I agree with him, there was no real data to derive any sense of risk from. I too would expect trace chemical levels of most any industrial chemical to be present. You can analyze dust in your house and find PCB's....does that mean there is risk present...no, to assess that you need concentration and routes of exposure. All chemicals have risk....the dyes used to make the bills, the chemical components of the linens used to make the bill, you have a chance of cutting your finger on the edge and getting an infection.
Contamination does not mean significant health risk....any of you folks worry about the lead in metal cook ware....if the media reported lead is present in trace amounts in all metal products would you infer there is a health risk ?
The word "data" is plural, you idiot.
Thank you! Datum is the term for one piece of data. Kevin, go brush up on your vocab and grammar!
I like paper money, especially the ones that say United States Note. Those give me feelings of happiness, unlike the ones that say, Federal Reserve. No happiness and rejoicing there.
Is paper money known to the State of California to cause cancer? Everything else is....
BTW, Langerman didn't err; data is plural, hence "don't" is correct. Now, who's the idiot?
Langerman, really? As a statitician and scientist myself, 21 out of 22 positive results gives a high confidence level that dollar bills are contaminated with BPA (the alternate hypothesis if you even know what hypothesis testing is). Really, learn some science and statistics you dope. It's like they just hand out Ph. D's to anyone these days.
21 out of 2.6 billion+ dollar bills in circulation is not enough of a sample to be statisticly significant. If they had tested a couple of thousand bills taken from a variety of sources in every state then the study would have some significance.
wow...this is news ? Either the media, or the general population apparently has given up on science. It is not that BPA health effects shouldn't be reviewed. It is that there is no context to the "toxic" impacts they are describing. They give the acceptable daily intake value....they know the results of the bill tests and could have told us how many dollar we would have to eat, or shove into the pores of our skin to get that dose (but that would have made the whole article seem silly, and they didn't want that). They could have given other context, like comparing the risk to cell phones (220,000 accidents per year, 5000 deaths), etc etc.
When I think of all the risks I am exposed to each day....BPA on bills is so far down the list on real health impact significance it doesn't even register.
From now on, when making money, incorporate a fine copper mesh in the weaving. Copper is a natural anti-microbial and would repelled or kill nearly anything that would attach itself to the bills.
Silent Preist....copper is considered a toxin also. All chemicals are. Plus anti micorbial compounds don't affect molecules (in this case bis phenol A)...do you think molecules are microbes ??
What kind of exposure would there be? 11 parts per million would be 0.000011 kilograms per kilogram of money or .0011 grams per kilogram of money or 1.1 milligrams per kilogram of money.
So I'd have to completely ingest all of the BPA that might be contaminating 45 kilograms (100 lbs) of money for each kilogram of my body weight (100 kilograms). So I'd have to completely ingest all of the BPA contaminating 10,000 lbs (5 tons) of money (the admittedly small sample of money at it's thickest concentration) for the government officials to be concerned. I don't think I've seen 5 tons of money in my lifetime, let alone rubbed it enough to contaminate myself with all of the BPA that it might contain.
Is this really a story?
excellent post !
I slipped a factor of ten. I wish I had an editor :)
What kind of exposure would there be? 11 parts per million would be 0.000011 kilograms per kilogram of money or 0.011 grams per kilogram of money or 11 milligrams per kilogram of money.
So I'd have to completely ingest all of the BPA that might be contaminating 4.5 kilograms (10 lbs) of money for each kilogram of my body weight (100 kilograms). So I'd have to completely ingest all of the BPA contaminating 1,000 lbs (0.5 ton) of money (the admittedly small sample of money at it's thickest concentration) for the government officials to be concerned. I don't think I see 1/2 ton of money in a year, let alone rubbed it enough to contaminate myself with all of the BPA that it might contain.
Still, is this really a story?
11 parts per million on a one gram dollar bill means it could have .011 milligrams per bill. Hence 1 milligram would take 91 bills. A 50 kilo person (under 100 pounds) could have 50 times 50, or 2500 milligrams of daily exposure...which would take 2500 times 91 or 227500 bills. So, if my math is right....over 225,000 bills per day could be eaten, or absorbed through the skin....I hearby declare this silly topic.
Nightstalk.... who critiqued the chemist's response... The chemist didn't say the results of being contaminated was not significant..that was your assumption, he said the data doesn't even rise to the level of speculation....did you feel almost a quarter million bills per day that had to be metabolized was a risk worth considering in life ?....they must hand out statistic degrees to anyone (just counter busting on ya :)
For all you people concerned about this please mail me your toxic money, I will only charge the price of the money recieved to dispose of this hazardous waste.
Now we have proof why we need to put a stop to any new regulations from the EPA or Government until scientific data has been reviewed by outside agencies not just themselves. 7 year ban an all new laws until we can make sense of the ones already passed.
Another reason to eliminate the dollar bill ---- dollar coins last much longer and likely be less likely to spread chemicals, germs, etc.
I wonder if the strong resistance to getting rid of the dollar bill is by strippers and their tippers??
... dollar coins last much longer and likely be less likely to spread chemicals, germs, etc.
I wonder if the strong resistance to getting rid of the dollar bill is by strippers and their tippers??
You can always use the coin slot.
Folks if you want you can get rid of these bills by sending them to me. That way, you will not get sick.
Dollar bills tainted with cocaine, really? How strange, right? Yea, and I like AverJoe1234's idea, too !
Hey, I guess I'm safe. Don't have a job hence no money in my wallet :-)
May I say one thing in response to this HA HA HA HA AHAH HA HA HA AHA AH HA HA HA HAH AHAHA HA
DOES ANYONE FEEL BETTER NOW
Just watch out for the statisticians in here who will correct you with an accurate count of just how much you actually said.
The people who run these tests, do they work for the Government or does their pay come from some agency connected with Government if so fire the whole lot because this info is a waste of time and money. O come to think of it they are most likely cousins or brothers or sisters of some politician, who would have to support them because they can not fine a real job. No wonder the country is going down the drain.
Wow. Im scared. Cocaine on dollar bills. Thats unsafe. they should really do something about this. Im sickened :I
What about the workers who process bpa and bpa containing materials everyday they go to work. Why don't they study large scale exposure, parts per million is a fraction of a percent. What about the workers who breath bpa. I'm not a scientist but I guarantee the exposure levels are thousands of times higher than the average banker or cashier who maybe slightly concerned after reading about dirty money.
OMFG! How much money went into this study that could have been used for something truly useful? Hell, almost every bill in the US is tainted with cocaine as well, and do you hear anyone complaining about that???
Blame it on the Republicans and the Democrats if they don't clean it off we'll vote independent next time so Independent Candidate get ready....
Ok, maybe I'm missing something here. The article states "The BPA likely rubbed off on the money from store receipts, which have been found to be loaded with the chemical used in thermal paper printing". Why is not the headline "Beware of store receipts"?
Maybe it is just me but are not the dogs at the wrong tree?
If someone suspects their money is tainted they can send it to the treasury to reduce the deficit!!