Prohibits the distribution and use of business transaction paper containing bisphenol A

BILL NUMBER:S3089

Title of bill

An act to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to prohibiting the distribution and use of paper containing bisphenol A for the recording of any business transaction

Purpose

To expand the provisions of current NYS law to prohibit the distribution and use of paper containing bisphenol A for the recording of any business transaction

Summary of provisions

The bill prohibits any person, firm, partnership, association, limited liability company or corporation from distributing or using any paper containing BPA for the recording of any business or banking transaction.

Justification

Recently, the NYS Governor signed legislation that would prohibit the use of BPA in child care products, including sippy cups, baby bottles and straws intended for use by a child under the age of three. BPA is an estrogen-mimicking endocrine disrupting chemical that has been found to be toxic at low doses and is linked to breast cancer, early onset of puberty, obesity ad prostate cancer. Very small amounts of hormones can produce immense biological behavioral changes. BPA has been used in carbonless copy paper (e.g. credit card receipts) and thermal imaging papers for many years. A powdery layer of BPA is coated onto a piece of paper along with invisible ink which merge and provide "color" when subject to heat or pressure. The Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry, co-founded by organic chemist John C. Warner, has been testing cash register receipts and has found an alarming amount to BPA on these receipts. The average receipt using the BPA technology was found to contain 60 - 100 milligrams of free BPA, which is a thousand times above levels leaching from polycarbonate bottles.

The Environmental Work Group (EWG) in Washington DC had a testing program conducted by the Missouri Division of Biological Sciences laboratory on receipts from major retailers, including Wal-Mart, Safeway, McDonalds, the U.S. Postal Service, and Bank of America ATMs. The laboratory found that the total mass of BPA on a receipt is from 250 to 1,000 times the amount of BPA typically found in a can of food or a can of baby formula. Forty percent of 36 printed receipts collected from fast food restaurants, big retailers, grocery stores, gas stations and post offices in seven states and the District of Columbia contained BPA.

Bio-monitoring surveys by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found BPA in the bodies of 93% of Americans over the age of 6. The EWG analysis of the CDC data found that people who reported working in retail industries had 30 percent more BPA in their bodies than the average U.S. adult and 34% had more BPA than other workers. As of May 2009, 1 in 17 working Americans - 7 million

people- were employed as retail salespersons and cashiers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The nation's largest manufacturer of thermal paper, Appleton Papers in Wisconsin, stopped using BPA in 2006 because of a growing concern about the safety of the chemical.

This potentially damaging source of BPA cannot be allowed to remain in the marketplace, where everyone is being exposed unknowingly. This bill would ban the use of paper containing or made with BPA within 6 months of becoming law.

Fiscal implications

None to the State.

Local fiscal implications

None.

Effective date

This act would take effect 180 days after it becomes a law.