Welcome back to Toxic Earth: The Podcast, where everyday objects get the environmental‑health roast they deserve. Today’s villain… The receipt: The tiny slip of thermal paper quietly dosing you with endocrine disruptors every time you touch it. Thermal paper isn’t just paper. It’s a chemical sandwich. BPA (or its equally shady cousin BPS) sits right on the surface, ready to hop into your skin in seconds. Add leuco dyes, sensitizers, and stabilizers, and you’ve got a four‑ingredient endocrine‑disruptor cocktail disguised as a grocery total. And, cashiers overwhelmingly women, disproportionately women of color, and mostly low‑income workers handle thousands of receipts a week. OSHA doesn’t require disclosure. Employers don’t warn them. And the receipts keep printing. This is about environmental racism. This is about environmental justice. Full stop.

For key references, click:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1i19goB105W1rKi9kwB3ns02uSPp9vXJPbUvE-6qbHxU/preview

Topics covered in this episode

BPA (Bisphenol A), BPS (Bisphenol S)

BPA on thermal receipt paper

BPS on thermal receipt paper

Thermal paper and chemical exposure

Endocrine disruptors

Xenoestrogens

BPA skin absorption

Receipt paper and dermal exposure

Hand sanitizer and BPA absorption

Leuco dyes, Crystal Violet Lactone

Thermal paper chemicals

Non-monotonic dose-response

Endocrine disruption and toxicology

BPA and reproductive health, developmental health, thyroid disruption, metabolic health, brain development

Cashier occupational exposure

Workplace chemical exposure

Phenol-free receipt paper

BPA-free receipts

California Proposition 65

Cumulative BPA exposure

Reducing exposure to BPA and BPS

Digital and email receipts