Why do they those thermal receipts fade so fast? And what do they have do with my kids and food? Thermal receipts are super thin, slightly shiny, very slippery and seem to everywhere these days. I even received one on the bus the other day.
I often take my 3 year old daughter shopping as it can make the mundane more fun for both of us. I let her participate in the experience as much as possible as she is fascinated by all the activity in a store. She loves the check out process, she likes to take the receipts from the store assistants. After Niggling the important receipts using the Niggle It iPhone app my daughter likes to continue to hold on to them or I throw them in the bag with the goods. Once I get home I used to place the important receipts in a special plastic folder and move on to more important things at home.
I have now changed a few things about this routine.
- I Niggle all the important receipts on Niggle It and I don’t store the originals anywhere near plastic as they fade away. Some faster than others.
- And most importantly, until I know more about it, I now treat them all as potentially toxic and won’t let my daughter touch those thermal receipts any more. And I certainly don’t let them come into contact with food products.
So why?
1. The easy one first. They fade when fast when they are stored in or near plastics due to a tiny chemical reaction. Depending on conditions and the types of plastics they are near the faster they fade. Niggle It will keep an image of the receipt so you can reap the benefits from them in the future, whether that is for warranties or tax deductions.
2. The potentially bigger and emerging issue. A few days ago it was reported in the Washington Post that “Disputed chemical bisphenol-A found in paper receipts“. They refer to thermal receipt paper and it states that ”40 percent of the receipts it collected from supermarkets, automated teller machines, gas (petrol) stations and chain stores. In some cases, the total amount of BPA on the receipt was 1,000 times the amount found in the epoxy lining of a can of food, another controversial use of the chemical“.
I would like to think that there is no cause for alarm but I would like the authorities to let us know as if there is any reason to be concerned. I cannot help think that if BPA is still present in the US receipt paper, after all they have done to rid industry of BPA over the last 10 years, what hope do we have?.
