BPA is an estrogen mimic and with ferrets so prone to endocrinological
growths, both benign and malignant, it might make sense to restrict BPA
exposure.

People who do not subscribe to Science News will need to wait a while
before they can read this. We have a few subscriptions we would never
want to be without. Science News is definitely one of them. We learn a
lot each week in a fun and clear fashion thanks to those good people.

<http://www.sciencenews.org/index/generic/activity/view/id/48084/title/Concerned_about_BPA_Check_your_receipts>

The article title is:
>CONCERNED ABOUT BPA: CHECK YOUR RECEIPTS

and it begins:
>While working at Polaroid Corp. for more than a decade, John C. Warner
>learned about the chemistry behind some carbonless copy papers (now
>used for most credit card receipts) and the thermal imaging papers
>that are spit out by most modern cash registers. Both relied on
>bisphenol-A.

Not all such papers have that residue but there is no way for the
average customer or employee to know which do and which don't.

For comparison for those people who will not use that type of plastic
for bottles:

>... amount receipts carry isn't trivial.
>
>"When people talk about polycarbonate bottles, they talk about
>nanogram quantities of BPA [leaching out]," Warner observes. "The
>average cash register receipt that's out there and uses the BPA
>technology will have 60 to 100 milligrams of free BPA."...
>
>As such, he argues, when it comes to BPA in the urban environment,
>"the biggest exposures, in my opinion, will be these cash register
>receipts."...

Do you put your receipts in your bags? Maybe that is not the best idea,
and maybe ferrets should not play in those bags, even with supervision,
in case the powder is in them, either from your receipts or just
floating near the registers.

in the article a person advises washing hands before touching food and
that pregnant women wash after touching any of the receipts.

The work is by:
http://www.warnerbabcock.com/publications.html

Sukie (not a vet)

Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/
http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
all ferret topics:
http://listserv.ferretmailinglist.org/archives/ferret-search.html

[Posted in FML 6480]