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Hand sanitizing agents can increase the skin’s permeability to other hazardous chemicals up to 100 times, such as the notoriously known and feared bisphenol A (BPA).
Such findings were made by a study conducted by scientists from the University of Missouri, which they published in the journal ONE.
“Our research found that large amounts of BPA can get on your hands, the food you eat, and be absorbed through the skin,” says the study leader Frederick vom Saal.
Previous research has already shown that hand sanitizers disrupt the skin’s function as a protective barrier. This can then allow large amounts of chemicals that come into contact with it to enter the body.
Until now, however, it was not known that this also applies to the hazardous chemical BPA, which disrupts the hormonal balance in the body.
Levels high enough to cause illness
In recent years, BPA has received considerable attention. It is a chemical commonly found in translucent hard plastics and also in many coatings of canned foods and beverages.
„BPA has hormone-like effects and causes developmental disorders especially in the human fetus, newborns and young children, but also causes problems in adults. These include diseases such as cancer, metabolic disorders and immune system disorders.
Many people do not realize that BPA is also found in thermal papers, which today are almost exclusively used to print receipts. BPA then quickly enters your bloodstream from these receipts.
At the recorded levels there is already a risk of developing many diseases – such as diabetes or obesity. “
BPA is often associated with cardiovascular disease and infertility.
In another recent study, participants were asked to handle a receipt for varying lengths of time. Some participants had to hold them by hand after disinfection, while others had to consume fries with the hands in which they had earlier held notebooks.
Scientists then measured BPA levels in their blood, skin and urine after each activity.
What did the study about disinfectants find?
And what were the results?
Scientists found that 45 seconds of handling the receipt increased the BPA level on the skin by 581 micrograms (micrograms), with 40% of that amount appearing after the first 2 seconds.
After 4 minutes the BPA level on the skin decreased by 27%. This amount had apparently been absorbed through the skin directly into the body.
Ninety minutes after handling a receipt, the average participant had a BPA level in blood and urine of 20 mg BPA / g creatinine.
This is a level that is officially associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes. This concentration is also sufficient to increase the risk of developmental abnormalities in children.
And those study participants who had previously used hand sanitizer had BPA levels in blood and urine up to 100 times higher than others.
Scientists also found that BPA levels rose more in women than in men. They do not yet know why this is the case.
How to limit the harmful effects of disinfection?
These findings concern especially people who work with their hands all day. They are usually cashiers at tills.
„Receipts from shops, ATMs and all other devices that use thermal paper contain huge amounts of BPA on the surface of the paper, which serves as a photographic developer,“ says Frederick Vom Saal.
„The problem is that we consumers often use hand sanitizers, hand creams, soaps and sunscreens, which drastically increase the skin’s permeability to BPA, which is present on these receipts.“
This is especially true in today’s „pandemic“ times, when hand disinfection is required upon entering almost every building, so people repeatedly apply it to their hands during the day.
Scientists also found that people who handle a receipt and then eat with those hands are exposed to BPA twice – first by absorption through the skin and then orally.
They therefore recommend not eating shortly after you have held receipts in your hands and to wash your hands with warm water or ordinary soap. Of course, it would be best to avoid BPA entirely.
How did the study turn out?
Hand sanitization itself (even without BPA) is responsible for many health problems – disruption of endocrine function, weakened immunity and cancer.
Studies have also shown that they contribute to the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and create a bacterial imbalance on the skin.
Some scientists believe that they may even increase the risk of infection, which is precisely the opposite of what was intended.
What is BPA?
Bisphenol A (BPA) is an organic compound from the bisphenol group that is used in the production of plastics. It is a derivative of diphenylmethane.
