BPA Receipts
Here’s another way that most ubiquitous of not-so-friendly chemicals, BPA, can end up in your body: via store receipts. Turns out that the thermal papers used to print most receipts are heavily infused with the chemical (up to 2% by weight, apparently). Tests have revealed that the BPA easily rubs off on your fingers as you handle the receipts.
As always, the perennial question is should you be worried? Maybe. Handle one receipt or so a day, and your exposure level will be well within the daily tolerance level established by (I believe) the FDA. However, people with wet fingers can pick up up to ten times as much BPA off the receipts. And, the presence of other chemicals on your hands commonly found in hand lotions (specifically, alcohol), can act as a carrier, drawing BPA through your skin and into your bloodstream much more efficiently.
The worst case scenario would look something like a pregnant cashier with lotion on her hands handling hundreds of receipts per day. Such a situation could potentially lead to harmful exposure levels, especially (obviously) to the fetus. Alternative papers are apparently in the works, so watch for a “BPA Free” tag on receipts in the future. Of course, there’s no guarantee that these newer formulations will prove to be any safer. Via Science News.
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BPA in the NY Times
NY Times columnist Nicholas Kristoff writes about the ubiquity of BPA in our bodies, plus a gaggle of new studies linking BPA exposure to a variety of abnormalities in test animals. If you’ve been following the BPA Saga (including this impressive bit of corporate nastiness by Sigg), you’ll see that the latest research keeps upping the ante on the potential ill effects of BPA exposure in our food and water.
It always seems to me that the American Way of doing business really fails when it comes to protecting people from unknowns like chemical toxicity in products. The presumption in our system is that something is innocent (ie safe) until proven otherwise, and “proof” of either the legal or scientific variety is stunningly difficult to come by when you factor in the nature of statistical Randomness—not to mention the far-too-cozy relationship between industry and regulators, or the fact that the only organizations with enough money to fund large studies on these chemicals are the very companies who sell them.
I’ve always thought the big issue with chemical exposure is not the impact of any one chemical, but rather the rich brew Americans are exposed to only a daily basis as we use our computers, fire-safe rugs, clothing, and furniture, and all the other products of the modern age. What interactions and multiplying effects arise directly as a consequence are anyone’s guess—and virtually impossible to establish via any sort of replicable study.
My guess is future generations will be baffled by our cavalier attitude toward chemical exposures. And they’ll probably have the data, at long last, to show just exactly what the impact of something like BPA actually is. Wouldn’t it be nice, though, if we didn’t have to wait a hundred years or more before our various industries switched to safer alternatives?
Posted in Health, Science | 6 Comments
New Yorker on SPF Ratings
The New Yorker has a fascinating piece on SPF ratings in suntan lotion. Looks like I may have to rethink my standard SPF 50…
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Hypoxic Interval Training?
I was reading an article in this month’s Backpacker magazine about thirteen-year-old Jordan Romero, who is on a quest to be the youngest person ever to climb the so-called Seven Summits. While there’s certainly no lack of controversy about Jordan’s story (he summited Aconcagua at 11, and has plans to top Everest next year), what got my interest was learning that the boy and his dad sleep in a hypoxic tent in their Big Bear, CA, home to pre-acclimatize themselves for high altitude mountaineering.
Interesting—especially considering they already live around 7000′ in elevation. I ran a search for these altitude training tents, and came up with something even more interesting: the Altolab Kit, a portable device that reduces Oxygen in the air you breath in order to simulate the effects of high altitude (more…)
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Sunscreen in a Pill?
For fair-skinned persons like myself, it’s sort of the Holy Grail of sun protection: the concept of a sunscreen that you ingest as a pill rather than slather all over your body.
Interestingly enough, one of my parents’ health newsletters is mentioning a product called Heliocare which promises to do exactly that. It’s a pill. Take it before you go out into the sun, and you get extra protection from the sun.
Now, my parents have a lot of newsletters lying around, many of which date back to the 1960′s, so I first had to check to see if what I was reading was current. It was. Even more intriguing, a 2004 study apparently showed that Heliocare significantly reduced both sunburn and associated skin damage due to sun exposure (more…)
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BPA Study links exposure, health effects
To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time a study has linked BPA exposure to health issues in humans. Here you Go…
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Traveling in Bear Country
Late season storms aside, I’ve been looking forward to ditching the ski gear and switching to hiking and climbing. After all, summer camping in the Sierra is easier in almost every respect than winter. There is one big difference, however: in summer, we share the mountains with bears. I must say I ordinarily harbor no ill will toward bears, but as a hiker I find they present an added layer of complexity that (more…)
Posted in Camping, Health, Hiking, Tips | 1 Comment
Female Athletes and ACL Tears
The New York Times is running an article on the epidemic of ACL tears and other injuries in U.S. female athletes.
Female participation in sports in this country is exploding, credited in part to a 1972 law, TITLE X, which mandated equal opportunity in sports to female athletes.
As more and more girls and young women compete in sports, it would be natural to expect to see more female sports injuries. But, as the article points out, female athletes may be uniquely vulnerable to sports injuries. As they hit puberty, physical changes, including the structural design of the body and hormonal differences, take place in women’s bodies (more…)
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Backcountry.com on Plastic Toxicity
This month’s Backcountry.com newsletter features an article on plastic water bottle concerns and alternatives. Some of you may be aware that Canada’s largest outdoor retailer recently pulled polycarbonate (Lexan) water bottles from its shelves, citing safety concerns about the ingredient BPA, which leeches from polycarbonate plastics, and which acts like a hormone when ingested by lab animals.
The plastic industry (and of course Nalgene) insist that BPA-leeching is not a health concern, and they’ve got some substantial evidence to support their case, including current statements by a variety of health organizations.
Coincidentally, I’ve been putting together a section on hydration product reviews for SierraDescents, including my take on the subject of toxic exposure. That should be coming within a week or so. For now, check out the Backcountry article. Unfortunately, I think the waters are going to remain muddy on this subject for a while.
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How Toxic is Your Sunscreen?
If you’re like me—fair-skinned, that is—you’ve probably discovered that sunscreens don’t all perform the same. I can put on a thick layer of SPF 50 and still get torched. No, it’s not just that sunscreens tend to wash off as you sweat: some just don’t work that well.
Many formulations only give SPF ratings for UVB rays, which turn out to be less damaging than UVA. Some sunscreens now contain new ingredients designed to filter UVA light. Many of these newer chemicals are not yet approved by the FDA, and are only available in sunscreens sold in Europe (more…)
