A reader sent me a link recently to a study that found high levels of the toxin BPA on dollar bills and receipts.
The Washington Toxics Coalition found that the thermal printers commonly used in the retail industry for printing receipts use BPA in the ink. Receipts shockingly contain BPA at levels 250-1000 times higher than that found in canned foods. (1)
Receipts placed in your wallet then easily transfer the toxin to paper bills as well as your own skin!
According to the study, 95% of money tested positive for BPA.
Even more alarming, BPA coming into contact with the skin penetrates to a depth that cannot be easily washed off!BPA, if you remember, is an acronym for bisphenol A, an organic compound widely used in the plastics industry. BPA has been found to be highly estrogenic, having the potential to disrupt normal hormonal function in both humans and animals. It has also been linked to obesity, cancer, infertility and other modern ailments. Canada recently became the first country to declare BPA an official toxin.
To avoid contamination, a staff scientist with Washington Toxics suggested refusing store receipts or storing them separately from the cash in your wallet. This suggestion seemed rather lame to me considering how alarmingly pervasive BPA has become in our environment.
Considering that we have to touch cash or receipts at least once in awhile and that the high levels of BPA we come in contact with from these sources doesn’t appear to readily wash off, we all need a better strategy for dealing with this toxin that is now everywhere.
I, for one, am not going to go through life wearing gloves.
I have a much better idea: Drink homemade kombucha!
Kombucha Prevents Toxins from Doing Damage
You see, this humble traditional, fermented drink originally from China and Russia contains glucuronic acid which is a powerful aid to the body’s natural cleansing processes. The liver normally produces high amounts of glucuronic acid to detoxify the body.
This powerful acid which is not readily commercially synthesized binds up all manner of poisons and toxins like BPA and quickly moves them to the excretory system. Once bound by glucuronic acid, toxins no longer can be absorbed by body systems so their toxic properties are in essence “deactivated”.
The powerful detoxification aspects of kombucha were discovered by Soviet researchers who were determined to find the reason why the districts of Solikamsk and Beresniki in the west central Ural mountains in the industrialized, post WWII era had hardly any cancer cases despite devastating environmental pollution.
Cancer cases in neighboring districts were extremely high in comparison. Pollution from potassium, lead, mercury, and asbestos mining was so bad that it was causing trees and fish to die. Production facilities were spewing as much pollution in the cancer free districts as in the high cancer districts.
What researchers discovered was that homes in the cancer free districts were never without fermenting crocks of kvass and kombucha! No other social or environmental differences were noted. The Russians from the cancer free districts even drank as much vodka as the other Russians but interestingly did not have the social drunkeness problems that typically go hand in hand with heavy drinking.
It seems to me that the best way to prevent pervasive environmental toxins like BPA from poisoning you day after day, year in and year out is to deploy a traditional weapon used for centuries – kombucha!
I liken drinking kombucha to having a second liver. With liver functions overloaded and stressed from our increasingly polluted environment, who can afford to overlook this easy, inexpensive way to keep these poisons from damaging our tissues and disrupting our hormones?
If you are interested in learning how to make kombucha yourself for just pennies a quart, I offer four free video lessons on traditional kombucha brewing in my archives. The first two are for beginning brewers and the second two are advanced topics for the pros.
What a delicious way to keep your body free of BPA!
Reference
Search for Health, Tom Valentine
Yeah for Kombucha! I had a mother in the fridge for a long time, it looks and smells ok. I made kombucha and it is taking a long time to ferment, it’s been over a week and it still tastes like sweet tea, not tangy like I have made before. We are in Central PA and it has been very, very cold outside and in our house as well. The mother isn’t producing a baby 🙂 and looks a little different. I hope I didn’t kill her with the cold temps. Any ideas!
Cathy
Hi Cathy, if the mother culture was in the fridge for a long time (it must be in bowl with kombucha liquid to keep it moist and a cloth lid else it will suffocate/dry out), then it may be dead and you may need to start over with a fresh culture especially if its been fermenting for a week and still sweet with no baby forming.
Sarah
We spend a lot of time on a boat and cannot make kombucha is it all right to buy it when I can find it? I have not seen it at Publix but some health food stores have it! I know it would be better to make it but would it be worth buying when I cannot make it? I do so enjoy your site!
Jean Finch
Hi Jean, yes – by all means buy it! It is expensive this way, but kombucha is well worth it if you are unable to make it periodically.
Would other fermented foods such as raw kimchi provide the same benefit?
Hi MAS, other fermented foods would provide a wonderful probiotic element, but only kombucha contains glucuronic acid which is the cleansing benefit for removing toxins from the body.
Hi Heather, I drank kombucha daily for 2 of my pregnancies. I have no idea why anyone would say it causes miscarriage? It is not toxic and is a nourishing, traditional beverage used for centuries.
I have been told by others that kombucha can cause miscarriages, is there any truth to this?
The wonders of kombucha will never cease! We constantly have several gallons brewing in our home. I’m expecting now and have had trouble drinking it for a couple weeks, but am starting to get back into it. Luckily since I started several months ago it is safe in pregnancy! Plus of course all those wonderful probiotics. Love it.
That’s awful about one more source of BPA, though. 🙁 It will never stop.
Well, I guess that would be me. I’m off to work in an hour to spend a whole day touching hundreds of receipts and thousands of dollars. I will be sure to pack a bottle of my latest batch of Kombucha flavored with blackberry cider. This will be more incentive for me to remember to use it regularly.
It does worry me some that I’ve been handling all this for 10 yrs. before discovering the Kombucha. I like it because I’ve never really been a soda drinker and it gives me some variety from milk, tea or coffee.
I use my debit card almost exclusively (I get cash back on debit card purchases too) and decline the receipts when possible. I started for environmental concerns, but it’s also a frugal bonus. Glad I’m on the right track, but I love that Kombucha is a wonder drink. My husband always refers to it as vinegar and says how gross it is, but since the only things to drink in my house are water or kombucha, he’s starting to warm up to it. (He always says how thirst quenching it is). Yea for Kombucha!
I feel bad for the unknowing check out clerks who touch hundreds of these receipts and hand money all day long. My scoby has been long neglected. I guess it’s time to brew up some new tea.
Hi Rachel, the study also found that retail workers have 30% more BPA in their bodies than folks who do not work in retail! These folks should most definitely be drinking kombucha!!
Sarah,
I had no ideas about the dangers of thermal printers. We process several credit card transactions daily and were never aware there was anything to be concerned about. Thank you for opening our eyes – I think I will wear gloves from now on.
Best,
Vicki