508
Touching Paper Receipts for 10 Seconds Results in Unsafe Exposure to Highly Toxic BPS: Watchdog.
(www.commondreams.org)
this post was submitted on 14 Apr 2025
508 points (98.3% liked)
News
28805 readers
3808 users here now
Welcome to the News community!
Rules:
1. Be civil
Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.
2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.
Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.
3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.
Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.
4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.
Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.
5. Only recent news is allowed.
Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.
6. All posts must be news articles.
No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.
7. No duplicate posts.
If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.
8. Misinformation is prohibited.
Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.
9. No link shorteners.
The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.
10. Don't copy entire article in your post body
For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I remember hearing about basically this literally a decade ago. Nothing's been done about it since then. Nothing will be done about it now. Not unless we make a fuss about it at which point they'll pretend to give a shit about us and make grand gestures towards transitioning away from receipts made from hazardous materials. Meanwhile, they'll continue to knowingly expose us to some other hazardous material for the next decade until some independent research team uncovers how it's slowly poisoning everybody who comes into contact with it. And thus the cycle continues.
Under capitalism, there is no incentive to do anything for the benefit of humankind when it comes into conflict with the ultimate goal of accumulating as much wealth for yourself as humanly possible. It will always corrupt.
Research has gone into safer replacements. Many companies have been switching to BPA-free formulas, most notably CVS (notorious for sheer area of thermal paper receipts) that went BPA/BPS free in 2019. Some governments have banned BPA thermal paper, and others, including the EU, have set limits. BPA has been getting phased out because of these studies.
Well no, this organization is lining up to try to replicate the success with getting BPA out of thermal paper by trying to get BPS replaced, too.
Here's a study of Switzerland. Between 2014 and 2019, the incidence of BPA thermal paper went from 81% down to around 50%, and then after the ban it went to around 10%. BPS has seen some backsliding, and has increased from 3.1% to 19.1%. Still, that's a significant reduction in the past decade of papers that use either BPA or BPS.
People are doing the work. There's no reason to sit around and do nothing and complain that others are doing nothing, too.
Thanks for fact-checking me, it's good to know that there are pockets of the world that are trying to do the right thing. And sorry for my pessimism, I live in America.
Banned in Germany since 2020; 2025 banned across Europe. So not a capitalism problem per se, more like an government problem
Looked it up, could only find bans of BPA, which has since been replaced with BPS. Can you confirm BPS is actually banned?
https://www.packaginglaw.com/news/eu-bans-bpa-and-other-bisphenols-food-contact-materials
But you right, I mixed up BPA/BPS buz in the link its mentioned that EU also banned BPS
„The revised regulation adopted in December applies the restrictions to BPS and other hazardous bisphenols and bisphenol derivatives […]“
That's like saying "bleeding is not a stabbing problem per se, more like a bandages problem"
Like, yeah, keeping a stockpile of bandages is probably a good idea just in case, but maybe we should prevent people from stabbing each other in the first place?
The governments you're referring to are socially funded institutions that exist to protect the populace against the exploitations of capitalism. Sadly, they are the exception to many other governments which have let the corruption that capitalism breeds take hold.
So corruption isn’t a government problem?
Who lobbies the government?
Ooh, ooh! We've got those in spades! Pick us! Pick us! Pick US!
"Oh, you don't need to get a receipt if you give us your email address instead..."
I just don't imagine a scenario where I'd need to prove I bought a donut.
https://youtu.be/xPq0-8dyl8I
This is untrue, your confusing capitalism and short sighted greed. Capitalism's major issue is that very often the ship is being steered by somebody chasing next quarter's profits and abandoning anything further into the future.
Henry Ford famously paid his workers $5 a day in 1914 primarily to reduce high labor turnover and improve worker productivity. This wage increase was a significant shift from the previous average rate of $2.34, and it was also intended to make the Model T more affordable for his own workers. Here's a more detailed look at the reasons behind Ford's $5-a-day wage: Reduced Turnover: Ford had a crippling labor turnover rate of 370%. By offering a higher wage, he aimed to attract and retain workers, minimizing the cost and disruption of constantly hiring and training new employees. Increased Productivity: Ford believed that paying workers a higher wage would motivate them to work harder and more efficiently. Improved Morale: The higher wage was intended to improve workers' morale and reduce the distractions caused by financial worries. Making Cars Affordable: A key factor was the desire to make the Model T affordable for the workers who were producing it. By making their wages high enough to purchase a car, Ford hoped to stimulate demand and create a larger market for his product. "Profit-Sharing" and "Fordism": Ford initially presented the wage increase as a "profit-sharing" plan, arguing that workers deserved a greater share of the company's success. This concept became known as "Fordism," which combined large-scale production with higher wages.
In theory those may be different. In practice they often aren't. That's the problem. That's why it needs rails.
Imagine defending capitalism in the Year of Our Lord 2025
Imagine not understanding the system you hate isn't capitalism but cronyism and protectionism in the year of our Lord 2025. The government shouldn't subsidize business and let megacorps not pay tax while also giving them endless subsidies in return for political favor. If your company can't compete it should fail.
Breathe
The only positive example of capitalism you could find is over 100 years old.
And they chose Henry Ford of all people, the man responsible for the modern assembly line (capitalist alienation at its most extreme) and an actual Nazi.
Fun fact: he also founded two towns to house his workers, but segregated them by whites / non. The towns are still around today, and called Dearborn and Inkster. I'll let you guess which were for which. 🤢🖕🏽
I think you're forgetting the part where the Dodge brothers sued Ford for this and the courts ruled in favor of the brothers Dodge. Saying that companies must act in the sole benefit of their shareholders.
Oh, good thing we only have the Doge idjits then... 😐
Do you have a citation for that? Honest question as I hadn't heard this before. Until this point I have always heard that corporations have no legal duty to put shareholder profits over all other considerations. Before anyone wonders, I'm not trying to defend capitalism, which I think is indefensible.
Lol the citation is literally Dodge v. Ford Motor Co.
Thank you! I was not familiar with this case.