“Would you like your receipt?”

It’s a question you’re likely to hear every time you pop into the grocery store or stop for a latte on the way to work. Some people may also have heard warnings that have circulated for more than 15 years that if you say yes, toxic chemicals might rub off on your fingertips.

As a recent example, a 2025 study from the Center for Environmental Health, a nonprofit advocacy organization focused on toxic chemicals in consumer products, claimed that holding a paper receipt for only 10 seconds could result in exposure to unsafe levels of toxic chemicals.

Could something so commonplace really be slowly poisoning people?

I am a medical toxicologist – a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of poisoning. I see patients in my clinic for everything from severe lead poisoning to questions about exposure to chemicals that are mostly harmless.

Receipts are printed on a special type of paper – thermal paper – which often contains chemicals called bisphenols. These chemicals are potentially – but not necessarily – toxic. So, like many questions in toxicology, the answer to whether receipts are dangerous to handle is: It depends.

What are bisphenols and where are they found?

Bisphenols are human-made chemicals that have been widely used in industrial manufacturing since the 1950s.

Several different types exist, each with a letter standing for the chemical they are made from. The bisphenol produced using a molecule called acetone is called bisphenol A, or BPA. Bisphenol S (BPS) is made using a sulfur atom, and bisphenol F (BPF) is made using formaldehyde.

These chemicals are used to create a type of transparent and shatter-resistant plastic called polycarbonate, found in products including hard plastic water bottles, food storage containers and eyeglass lenses. Bisphenols are also ingredients in epoxy resins,........

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