Dr. Paul Saladino (@paulsaladinomd2), a carnivore diet advocate and wellness influencer, doesn’t want you touching receipts.
In a viral TikTok that’s accrued over 3.3 million views, he demonstrates his approach to staying safe from receipts. He goes on to cite a litany of endocrinal responses that can result from touching thermal receipt paper. However, numerous TikTokers thought he was being a bit much in the video.
Should you touch your receipts?
“This is why you don’t want to touch the receipts on thermal paper,” Saladino says, driving his point home, begins to squat down and put his hand behind the cloth of his T-shirt in order to grab the receipt paper. He then snatches it out of his hand and holds it up to look at it.”
Next, he looks to the camera and delineates why these sheets of paper are no bueno. “These thermal paper receipts contain BPA and BPS. So these are endocrine disrupting chemicals. That can actually be absorbed through your skin,” he says.
Then, he goes on to advise folks to exercise caution when grabbing sheets of receipt paper.
“So just touching one at a grocery store every once in a while isn’t the end of the world. But, I would like to avoid as many endocrine disruptors in my life, thank you, as I can,” Saladino says. “So I either don’t get the receipt, or I’m just gonna use my handy dandy wool shirt here. To put the receipt in the trash, and not touch it.”
Saladino then states that folks who handle receipts on a daily basis should take heed.
“So if you are touching a lot of receipts in your daily life,” he begins. “Don’t touch the thermal paper receipts, and you will decrease your exposure to BPA and BPS. Endocrine disrupting chemicals that can be messing up your hormones. Don’t touch them.”
@paulsaladinomd2 Still touching receipts?
♬ original sound – Paul Saladino
Are receipts really exposing us to BPAs?
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has acknowledged concerns involving BPAs in receipt thermal paper. In a paper assessing these potential hazards, the EPA also sought to seek “functional alternatives.”
The National Library of Medicine also published a study regarding BPAs in receipt paper. The study on the “implications for dermal exposure to bisphenol A and its alternatives” calls BPA “an endocrine disrupting chemical.”
Its abstract went on to state that studies indicate BPAs can be absorbed through the skin via receipt paper. However, “regulatory agencies have largely dismissed thermal paper as a major source of BPA exposure.”
The paper stated there’s an issue with the current testing model of handling receipts. The authors write, “Current models for estimating dermal BPA exposures are not consistent with normal human behavior.”
Furthermore, the abstract states that as a result, these tests “should be reevaluated.”
Dangers of BPA exposure
According to the same National Library of Medicine article, there are a slew of hormonal aberrations BPA contact can induce. Over “100 epidemiology studies” correlated BPA exposure with “adverse health outcomes.” These include obesity, ADHD, male sexual dysfunction, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and more.
Additionally, BPA exposure testing on animals indicates that even low doses have a significant effect. “Endocrine-sensitive endpoints” including the immune and nervous system, reproductive, and metabolic tissues, were also affected.
Toxic Free Future does indicate that there’s been some progress made in minimizing the amount of BPAs in receipt paper. On March 23, 2023, the outlet stated 80% of receipt paper contained “toxic chemicals.” While this may seem like a high figure, in 2017, it was even higher at 93%.
Moreover, folks who use hand sanitizer before touching a receipt are doing themselves a disservice. That’s because the alcohol in sanitizer is stripping them away from any additional protections against BPA absorption. Newsweek reported that folks who do so are “speed[ing] absorption of BPA from receipts.”
The outlet consulted with University of Missouri researcher Frederick vom Saal. The analyst studied the connection with hand sanitizers and BPAs. “Overall, using hand sanitizer before handling receipts led to an average increase of seven micrograms per liter of BPA in the blood serum of participants. The resulting blood levels of BPA were ‘well within the range wherein the risk for a whole range of nasty conditions. From type II diabetes to angina and heart attacks to obesity and liver abnormalities.’”
TikTokers express doom and gloom
One commenter who responded to Saladino’s video quipped, “that’s why I shop lift.”
While another asked, “Is breathing ok?”
Others thought that Saladino was being a little extra with his recommendation. “How did you make this video with a straight face,” one user wrote.
Someone else remarked, “I don’t have enough money to worry about receipt poisoning.”
Another replied that they believed he was being over the top with worry: “That’s paranoia.”
“What is hypochondriac?” someone else wrote.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Saladino via TikTok comment for further information.
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