Full Page Ad in The Eugene Weekly

The April 29th , 2010 Eugene Weekly featured an inside front cover full page ad from the RiteMade Company, a "converter" and reseller of thermal receipt paper. Since the advertising content of the Weekly is not posted on their web site, I will post the letter on the company's web site that is almost identical. You will note that it has many similarities to the post below that was forwarded to me by the Lane Community College Food Services Manager. There are enough differences that I will post this letter in its entirety, as my next post is a point by point commentary and general refutation of the ad/letter:

THERMAL RECEIPTS AND THE BPA ISSUE
Kansas City, Kansas, USA Recently there has been quite a bit of “chatter” in the media alluding to potential concerns about handling thermal receipt paper made using BPA (Bisphenol- A). Based on extensive research conducted by governmental authorities and industry experts, the United States Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) and Health Canada have concluded that BPA does not pose any direct health hazards in humans. In fact, the California Developmental and Reproductive Toxicant Identification Committee voted unanimously not to list BPA on the state’s list of toxic chemicals under Proposition 65. At RiteMade Paper Converters, Inc., we have posted statements summarizing a number of these findings and studies including the aforementioned statement issued by the FDA in February 2009 on our website, www.ritemade.com.
Many long term RiteMade employees have been working with thermal paper for more than 20 years. We are unaware of any instance of a health related issue or even an allergic reaction to thermal paper since we first started converting thermal fax paper in the late 1980’s. It is also worth noting that we have not received any reports of health related issues by any of the thousands of workers at the mills that produce thermal base paper during this time. We firmly believe that thermal paper is safe.
A related question has been: “Is there any thermal paper available that is not made using BPA?” To the best of our knowledge, all thermal paper at this time is made using either BPA (Bisphenol- A) or BPS (Bisphenol-S). BPA has received a lot of attention because of its use in making plastics used for bottled water, baby bottles and food can liners. BPS has received almost no attention because it is used mostly for making anti-corrosives, photography and tanning chemicals and epoxy glue agents.
As we understand it, what has created all the chatter is the chemical composition of BPA which is fairly similar to that of synthetic estrogen. While ingestion or handling of synthetic estrogen has been linked to certain health issues, numerous scientific studies have shown no direct links to BPA. Moreover, in terms of estrogen activity, a study conducted by researchers at the Laboratory of Microbiology and Host Defenses and the Institute for Environmental Sciences at a major Japanese university concluded that BPA and BPS were “comparable” in this regard. Based on this conclusion, as a practical matter, there is no difference between thermal paper made using BPA and BPS.
For more information, contact:
Chad Snoddy Manager Marketing and Sales Support
Phone: 913-621-5000
2600 Bi-State Drive Kansas City, KS 66103
www.ritemade.com