Top 5 Toxic Metals

When I was a kid, I would look forward to three school events every year. One of which was the Scholastic Bookfair. The giant truck full of books would come in March of every year and I would get to pick up a huge haul of books, posters, toys, and even little trinkets. One series that I made my mom buy year after year was the Puppy Place series written by Ellen Miles. It would cover a story about an orphan dog who gets fostered by two siblings named Charles and Lizzie Peterson and eventually adopted to its fur-ever home at the end of the story. I bought these books (probably like 15 of the total 64 books) because I loved (still do) dogs and the book would come with some kind of toy or piece of jewelry. I had a bunch of necklaces, earrings (which I never wore), charm bracelets, and keychains which I almost never wore. I just kind of collected them. 
One year, I had gotten the latest book and the new bracelet that came with it when my mom told me she had to throw the bracelet and the trinket from last year away because they had cadmium in them. There had been a recall on these little pieces of jewelry because the factories in China that had been making them were found to have been putting cadmium in the jewelry pieces to keep costs down. I had never heard of cadmium until then (I was 8 or 9) and to this day I still remember it as the poisonous reason why my mom threw my little lockets away. So when I was researching this piece and found out that cadmium was a toxic metal, you should know I immediately screamed at my computer going, “Cadmium! I remember this!” 

Toxic metals are types of metals and metal alloys that are, well, toxic. The physical elements that make up these metals are radioactive enough to harm people. Exposure to these metals by breathing them in (in a workshop as oxides or fumes), touching them, or wearing them can cause damage to everything from your liver, to your heart, to your reproductive organs. There are several different metals that are widely considered to be damaging enough that they are no longer used in workshops unless the company is shady. Here are the top 5 most toxic metals that do the most damage to people: 

1. Lead-Lead can be used in rubber molding compounds, enamels, and paints (this is also found in old NYC apartments). Ingesting the dust, inhaling the fumes, or touching it without latex or vinyl gloves on can lead to serious health problems. Just ask about the kids who ate lead paint chips.

2. Arsenic-Arsenic is found in some metal alloys from Japan although it is rarely used anymore. It is a carcinogenic metal which has been linked to certain types of skin cancer and increased deaths from heart disease of the metal workers who use it. 

3. Chromium-Chromium is found in a lot of plating solutions, unknown metals, and stainless steels. Folks are encouraged to avoid inhaling it or its salts because it can lead to occupational asthma and lung cancer. 

4. Cadmium-The metal that started this piece, cadmium was often used in solders and alloys a long time ago. It’s now most often found in antique pieces (like family heirlooms) and cheap jewelry sold to kids who bought the Puppy Place books. It has been linked to all kinds of nasty health problems such as kidney disease, emphyszema, liver disease, high blood pressure, and quick painful death to those who have suffered from acute poisoning of it. Hopefully, I don’t have to deal with any of that. 

5. Mercury-Good old mercury. If you’ve read my last four pieces, you know just how bad mercury is for people who have to work with it and the environments that get polluted by mercury-contaminated, industrial waste. Gilders, goldsmiths, and silversmiths often use mercury to make it easier to collect gold or silver. It can cause infertility, miscarriages, birth defects, heart disease, psychosis, depression, personality changes, and the complete destruction of your central nervous system (and more!) Do everything in your power to avoid jewelry with mercury in it because even consuming small amounts over a period of time can lead to suffering from the effects of mercury poisoning. 

Whew! That was a lot! Moral of the story, do thorough research on the jewelry companies you’re buying from and check out their supply chains’ health and safety measures. I could’ve suffered terrible consequences from wearing the cadmium-laced charm bracelets had they not been recalled. And I do not want to see that happen to anyone else just because some jewelry manufactuers want to cut corners to increase their profits.