Raising Healthy Children

Our Mission: Protecting Children Against Environmental Threats to Health
Dr. Landrigan

Dr. Philip J. Landrigan
Director, CEHC
Dear Friends of the Children's Environmental Health Center:

 

GREAT NEWS!  Last week, the Suffolk County Legislature approved an act that will ban bisphenol A (BPA) from thermal cash receipt paper, used by retail stores, gas station pumps, and in ATMs.   

 

Titled the Safer Sales Slip Act, this new law will protect Suffolk County residents from everyday exposures to BPA -- a chemical that mimics our body's natural hormones and has been linked to  obesity, diabetes, learning disabilities, and breast cancer.  BPA is used in cash receipt paper to bind the print to the paper; traces can rub off the paper and be absorbed into the skin, exposing shoppers to higher levels of this chemical.

 

The CEHC provided testimony in support of this act, which passed in a 16-1 vote in the general legislature on December 4th.

 

"This resolution takes an even stronger approach by banning the use of BPA in thermal paper... As leaders in Pediatrics and Preventative Medicine, we strongly support this Legislation," the Center testified in its statement.

To limit your family's exposure to BPA in cash receipts, the Environmental Working Group recommends the following steps: 
  • Refrain from taking receipts at ATMs, gas stations, and other retail stores.  Choose paperless receipts, if possible.
  • Wash hands thoroughly after touching receipts, especially before preparing or eating food.
  • Do not give children receipts to hold or play with.
  • Store receipts separately in a change purse or wallet.
  • Do not recycle cash receipts, as BPA can contaminate other recycled paper.
Sincerely, 

 

Philip J. Landrigan, MD, MSc

Director, Children's Environmental Health Center

Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Follow our Center on Facebook and Twitter!

Support our Center's work!

     

About the Children's Environmental Health Center 

www.cehcenter.org 

 

Formally established in 2007, the Mount Sinai Children's Environmental Health Center (CEHC) builds on Dr. Philip J. Landrigan's four decades of work in children's environmental health and fifteen years of research in environmental pediatrics at Mount Sinai.  The Center conducts groundbreaking research to identify the environmental causes of childhood disease and translates research findings into solutions that protect children's health.


Learn more about our Center. Click on the video below. 

 

 

In 2010, the Mount Sinai Children's Environmental Health Center was designated a Collaborating Centre in Children's Environmental Health by the World Health Organization.