You’ve just been shopping at an upscale natural foods store, you’ve filled your cart with organic veggies, and you’re feeling great heading to the checkout. You’ve done “everything right” for your health, but as soon as the cashier hands you the receipt, you have very likely just been exposed to Bisphenol-A, or BPA, through the skin on your hands.

Are Receipts Toxic?

Measurable levels of BPA are found on thermal paper used for credit card machines, ATMs, airline boarding passes, movie tickets, prescription labels, supermarket food labels, and cash registers. A 2015 study tested 170 receipts from 62 different vendors including supermarkets, restaurants, gas stations, and banks, and 168 of them tested positive for BPA.

BPA is a known endocrine disruptor, also found in food packaging and other plastics. It has already been found harmful and banned from use in baby bottles and sippy cups. Much of the latest research is looking into exposure via our diets, but a 2017 study has proven that handling BPA-laden paper leads to increased, measurable levels in the body.