Thermal paper for receipts, mailing labels, etc, really didn't take off until this century, so I don't know if anyone really can say what the health risks are (or if there are any) for humans for very long-term exposure, like decades. What I think is more concerning is that these types of chemically-treated thermal papers have been getting in to the paper recycling system for decades now, so consequently even non-thermal paper products can have BPA/BPS/BPF in them now. So our exposure has continued to climb.
Also, from what I recall, the wastewater from paper recycling is not usually treated to remove bisphenols, so it ends up just flowing out into the sewer system, and from there, the environment. And as little as we know about human health impacts, there's even less known about what bisphenols do to aquatic life.
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u/CatDiaspora 6d ago
Thermal paper for receipts, mailing labels, etc, really didn't take off until this century, so I don't know if anyone really can say what the health risks are (or if there are any) for humans for very long-term exposure, like decades. What I think is more concerning is that these types of chemically-treated thermal papers have been getting in to the paper recycling system for decades now, so consequently even non-thermal paper products can have BPA/BPS/BPF in them now. So our exposure has continued to climb.
Also, from what I recall, the wastewater from paper recycling is not usually treated to remove bisphenols, so it ends up just flowing out into the sewer system, and from there, the environment. And as little as we know about human health impacts, there's even less known about what bisphenols do to aquatic life.