ALL EVENTS ARE IN REAL TIME.
Scene One
FADE IN
The President has just finished an important speech in California and is greeting well-wishers on his way to his limo. A young woman holds out her hand. Smiling, he stops and shakes it. She moves on, but he doesn't. His hand has been poisoned with toxic chemicals. He collapses and almost dies.
FADE TO BLACK
Scene Two
FADE IN
A young woman has just finished an important shopping excursion in a New York store and has paid the check-out clerk. The clerk holds out the receipt. Smiling, the woman takes it. The clerk moves on to the next customer. The woman looks at her hand in disbelief. It has been poisoned with toxic chemicals. She doesn't collapse . . . but the toxins are getting her, just the same.
FADE TO BLACK
The first scene is from the second season of 24.
The second is from at least the last 24 stores I've shopped in.
The toxic substance in the first was fictional. The substance in the second is not.
I have recently learned that the receipts we are given every day from grocery stores, ATM's, restaurants and even the US Postal Service, are toxic.
If 24 taught us nothing else, it's that evil can lurk in the commonest places.
I've spent so much time warning about the toxins in make-up and plastic - and they were literally, right in my hands.
So what is the substance that even Jack Bauer couldn't stop?
Bisphenol A. More commonly known as BPA.
BPA is a carbon compound found in clear, hard, nearly shatter-proof plastic used in reusable bottles, canned foods, baby bottles, CD's, DVD's, medical equipment, fillings and sporting equipment, to name just a few products. It is usually identified by the number "7" in the triangle on the bottom of the object.
Unfortunately, lucky number "7" is something of a catch-all number (and not so lucky) but if the plastic is hard, it's probably using BPA unless it states otherwise.
It is also an endocrine disruptor which can lead to health problems.
Organizations like the the Endocrine Society and the Environmental Working Group are expressing concern over BPA and its effects on the human body.
Tests that have been conducted thus far on mice and rats have shown BPA to have an effect on infant brain development, obesity, neurological disorders (memory, learning, mood) and there may even be a connection to breast and prostate cancers.
CNN has reported that some thermal paper receipts (when the heat is applied to the paper, the BPA reacts with the dye, releasing the toxins) were found to carry 250 to 1000 times more BPA than the common products I've listed above.
A recent Swiss study showed that BPA in receipts penetrates deep into the skin where it cannot be washed away.
The average adult consumes 1 microgram of BPA for every 2.2 pounds of body weight. This microgram is considered a trace amount. To understand a microgram, the New York Times compares it to a single M&M that has been cut up into a 100,000 pieces, one of those pieces being the equivalent to a microgram.
And while more research is being done, a recent Swiss study showed that the BPA in these receipts penetrates deep into the skin where it cannot be washed away.
The good news is that companies like Starbucks and Target are switching paper so that their receipts are BPA-free or only contain trace amounts. Appleton Papers, one of the largest producers of thermal paper, no longer uses BPA.
I found out about the receipt problem through a fellow blogger...Green LA Girl. Others are finding out through news reports and environmental agencies. Whichever way you find out, it's clear that we need more research. In the meantime, let's not only protect the trees, let's protect ourselves.
Right now you can say no to receipts. Or ask that they be emailed to you.
What I'm really hoping is that soon THIS scene will be common . . .
Scene Three (Sometime in the Near Future)
FADE IN
Jack Bauer: Can I help you ma'am? You called CTU about a receipt problem.
Meredith Forbes: That's all right. It's been solved. I'm saying "no" to receipts now.
Jack Bauer: So you don't need me to save you?
Meredith Forbes: I didn't say that.
FADE TO GREEN
24 Photo Credit - Wikia.com
2 comments:
Such a well-written post. Love it! (You were just looking for a reason to write about your boyfriend, Kiefer, weren't you?)
No! Ok...maybe.
Thank you! I just read that cash (dollar bills) are also laced with BPA!! There's no escape!
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