Press release
Health risks from chemicals
Why tax clerks, bank employees, supermarket cashiers and employees in document archiving continue to live dangerously:
Although the health risks of thermal paper containing bisphenol A, which is used for example in receipts, bank statements and barcode labels, have been known for years, the European Union and the German government are still struggling to ban the use of the substance. The concentration in thermal paper will not be legally limited throughout the EU until January 2020. And this despite the fact that the market has long offered harmless alternatives!
The list of damage that can be caused by the substance reads like a secret report from Dr. Frankenstein's laboratory: malformations of the reproductive organs, infertility, learning disorders in children, hormonally induced cancers such as testicular, prostate or breast cancer, and recent studies have also identified the substance as a contributory cause of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and obesity.
The market is acting too slowly
As a manufacturer of barcode labels, we take our responsibility very seriously. The health of our own employees and that of our customers is clearly our top priority. For this reason, Barcodeetiketten.com has never processed thermal papers containing bisphenol A and expressly warns against trivializing the substance for economic reasons.
The problem has been known for many years: Bisphenol A (BPA), one of the most commonly used basic substances in plastic production, not only enters the human body via food (and its packaging), but also via thermal printing systems, such as those used in cash registers, ticket counters, parking ticket machines or printers for receipts and bank statements. According to the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), conventional thermal paper contains between 0.5 and 3.2 percent bisphenol A, which is not firmly bound in the material and is therefore easily released into the environment. It is absorbed through the skin on contact with the paper, and the substance can also end up in paper packaging for foodstuffs from used thermal paper via waste paper recycling.
The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) now describes BPA as “of very high concern” and has now added “endocrine disrupting properties”²) to the substance's “reproductive toxicity”¹).
This poses a particular risk for people who work in professions where they are exposed to permanent contact with the relevant papers, for example our customers.
Our responsibility
And this is where our responsibility begins: we will not work with thermal paper containing bisphenol A in the future either²) and are calling on the industry to rethink.
Furthermore, we feel obliged to inform the public that there are still companies that continue to use the superficially cheapest material without an explicit legal ban. We very much regret this.
We cannot improve the world on our own, but we can help to create awareness.
And this awareness makes all the difference!
Your team from Barcodeetiketten.com
Göppingen, 3. April 2018
1) Impairment of male and female reproductive functions or ability (fertility) and causing prenatal, non-hereditary health developmental damage and fruit damage. 2) Endocrine disruptors are substances that can damage health by altering the hormone system.
3) Manufacturer's declaration for download.