Say no to unnecessary receipts, and wash your hands with soap and water, not hand sanitizer, after handling receipts.

Hidden cost: New research finds that the chemical BPA transfers from register receipts into our bodies.

RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—[UPDATE 11-11] Just in time for the busy holiday shopping season, the country's largest manufacturer of thermal receipt paper is making it easier to distinguish BPA-free receipt paper from the toxic stuff. Appleton Paper supplies just over half of the receipt paper used in North America, and has manufactured it without BPA since 2006, when a slew of studies came out finding that the chemical could cause reproductive problems. In order to make it easier for the average shopper to distinguish BPA-free receipts, Appleton has started printing all its receipt paper with red flecks on the back. The red flecks are made from biodegradable cellulose rayon.

Appleton has already started producing the distinctive red-flecked paper, and it should start appearing in stores by the end of the month, with a total changeover expected early next year.

That could also make it easier for those working as register attendants, particularly pregnant women, to pressure their bosses to switch to BPA-free paper. Another recent study out of Harvard University found that, out of 389 pregnant women, those with the highest BPA levels in their bodies worked as cashiers. The findings are disturbing, considering that a growing body of evidence suggests that BPA does most of its damage to the reproductive system when babies are exposed in utero.

RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—[11-8] Some researchers investigating human exposure to the harmful chemical bisphenol-A, or BPA, believe that our biggest source of exposure is from food—probably because the chemical migrates into the food from its packaging or processing. Earlier this month, researchers found it in varying levels of most canned food tested, even Del Monte green beans. BPA has been linked to infertility, sperm damage, obesity, and heart disease, among other ills. Chemically tainted food is bad enough. But it's looking like the amount of BPA found in our bodies is actually much higher than what's found in food cans. So where is it coming from? One answer: the ubiquitous register receipts that we all handle whenever we make a purchase.

"These studies are starting to suggest that food might not be the major source of exposure. It's plausible that exposures are coming from elsewhere, whether it's thermal paper or some other environmental exposure we're not aware of yet," says Laura Vandenberg, PhD, postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Regenerative and Developmental Biology at Tufts University in Boston. (Thermal receipts contain a colorless, BPA-containing powder on one side. When heat from the printer strikes the paper, it turns the substance into ink that we can see.)

"It's putting a tremendous pressure on consumers, particularly pregnant women who are worried about harmful chemicals, to be educated about stuff that chemists aren't even educated on," adds Vandenberg. "That's ridiculous."

What chemists and other researchers are starting to understand is that BPA is in more things than we realize, and that there are different routes of exposure. A new study supporting that theory suggests that humans also absorb BPA through the skin even after handling cash-register receipts for just a few seconds. That's bad news, since an Environmental Working Group report found that some receipts harbor BPA levels up to 1,000 times higher than BPA detected in the linings of metal cans.

Luckily, there are technologically savvy ways of getting around this problem.

THE DETAILS: Thermal cash-register receipts are the norm now, and many of them are coated with high levels of BPA. Researchers of this new study, published in the journal Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, found BPA transferred from paper the skin after handling a receipt for just a few seconds. And the longer the hands went unwashed afterwards, the more researchers say was absorbed through the skin into the body. (Two hours after handing a receipt, nearly 75 percent of the BPA on the skin was gone, leading researchers to believe it was absorbed.) Interestingly, researchers found that when hands were greasy from body oils or other moisturizers, BPA transferred from receipt to skin was 10 times higher. And using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer increased absorption into the skin, so it's not a good idea to use that to clean the chemical off after handling receipts.