According to a recent study published in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology, scientists from the University of New York at Albany have shown that paper currency worldwide contains traces of bisphenol A (BPA), an industrial and commercial toxin.

The harmful effects of BPA are the result of the compound’s ability to disrupt endocrine signaling, specifically by binding to the estrogen receptor. Numerous studies since the 1930s when BPA was first demonstrated to mimic endogenous hormones have shown that the toxin has adverse developmental effects when exposed pre-natally and is potentially carcinogenic to many organs. Therefore, smelling your money likely results in exposing yourself to undue amounts of BPA and puts you at risk for a variety of health problems.

BPA is an organic compound widely used to make polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins and is found in consumer products such as baby and water bottles, sports equipment, medical devices, CDs and DVDs, and canned foods. Up until the current study, little was known about BPA contamination in paper products, such as in paper currencies, and its implications for human exposure.

The authors of the study, Kurunthachalam Kannan and Chunyang Liao, analyzed 156 pieces of paper money from 21 countries found that all contained traces of BPA. The report notes, however, that "estimated daily intake from paper currencies were 10-fold lower than those reported from exposures due to [indoor] dust ingestion in the United States." The highest BPA levels were in paper money from Brazil, the Czech Republic and Australia, while the lowest occurred in paper money from the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. Levels in U.S. notes were about average.

Kannan and Liao also found that the most likely source of the BPA in the currency is the thermal paper used in cash register receipts. They showed that receipts can transfer BPA onto cash when placed next to it or when a receipt is touched before handling currency. "Although high levels of BPA were measured in paper currencies, human exposure through dermal [skin] absorption appears to be minor," the article notes.

Source
Abstract available here

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