From clearing space for a calm and clean home for baby, to breastfeeding, to baby’s first foods, we want to give our babies the very best environment in a home that we want to make both beautiful and cosy for family life.
That’s why it’s so shocking to know that many of the common household items can be toxic with the most egregious of all neurotoxins—heavy metals.
Many of us think that toxic heavy metals are only a problem of old homes or old products, but the truth is that toxic heavy metals are commonly used even in materials today.
These elements are substances that can be toxic in very low concentrations.
Here are five common heavy metals that you may not know is in your home furnishings, decor, as well as common everyday items.
TOXIC HEAVY METAL SYMPTOMS & YOUR HEALTH
First, let’s get the brief on toxic heavy metals that we may not hear often about compared to more media-hogging headlines like PFAS and plastics.
You can experience heavy metal poisoning symptoms acutely or due to a chronic exposure and build up of toxic heavy metals.
Common SYMPTOMS of heavy metal poisoning
Brain fog—having trouble focusing on things you were previously good at or having a poor memory.
Fatigue—both acute and chronic, which also contributes to “brain fog.”
Numbness, tingling, and paralysis in your arms and legs. Heavy metals affect the nervous system disorders.
Chronic mental health problems. Including depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder.
Toxic metals disrupt the metabolic function in the body. First, they can accumulate and build up within the body, which disrupts the function of vital organs and glands (such as the heart, brain, kidneys, bone or liver).
The second way they disrupt is that they replace the vital nutritional minerals we have in our bodies, which in turn hinders their biological function. (source)
Our bodies cannot usually detox heavy metals easily (hence the term “heavy”). Even if you’re being exposed at low levels over time, there can be high levels of heavy metal toxins in your body as your body just CANNOT get rid of it fast enough.
Heavy metal poisoning is insidious, because at low and chronic levels, you may not even notice your changes. In healthy people, the concentration of free metal ions is usually very low.
But now we know the implications of heavy metals crossing the blood-brain barrier, in severe neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and Huntington’s disease (HD), among others
Arsenic
Arsenic can cause various cancers and harms the developing brain and nervous system. In fact, one study found drinking water with arsenic at half the allowable limit still caused IQ loss.
Arsenic was most prevalent in these household items:
Wallpaper. Arsenic was commonly used in the dyes for the fabric.
Non-aniline free Leather.
Vintage baby carriages. Arsenic was commonly used in the dyes for the fabric.
Beauty products.
Cadmium
This toxin is linked with brain damage, learning disabilities, cancer, and kidney, bone, and heart damage. It can also cause various types of cancer, including breast, lung, prostate, nasopharynx, pancreas, and kidney cancers. What’s more, scientists now know that this damage happens even at levels previously deemed safe by the medical community. (source)
Cadmium was most commonly found at home in:
Cigarette smoke. The tobacco plant takes up cadmium avidly from the environment.
Metal work. These release micro particles into the air from work, such as plating, soldering, and welding.
House paint as a colour stabiliser.
PVC (polyvinyl chloride) flooring, and;
PVC leather / faux leather / “leatherette” furniture. All PVC plastics are notorious for their extensive use of multiple hazardous heavy metals such as cadmium, lead, and tin as stabilizers.
Contaminated water.
Beauty products.
Lead
There is no safe level for lead; any amount of lead is toxic to humans, and especially babies. Lead exposure is linked with ADD, behavioral issues, and problems in school.
Lead is most commonly found:
Paint, including those used for Stairs, railings, banisters, and porches. Most countries still do not regulate or ban the use of lead in paint.
Older homes built before 1978 (in the USA).
Renovation work dust. Repair works often involve sanding or scraping paint on the inside and outside of homes that spread lead dust throughout the home.
Wood stain varnishes.
Porcelain paint on sinks. Old barn style kitchen sinks with old peeling porcelain.
Contaminated Soil, yards and playgrounds. Lead can chip from surrounding buildings and contaminate the area.
Air pollution from leaded gasoline in cars.
Artificial turf and playground surfaces made from shredded rubber. These artificial turf made of nylon or nylon/polyethylene blend fibers can contain lead.
Toys. Especially older toys or if it made outside of the EU, where lead for toys is banned.
Jewelry. Lead is added to make the product heavier, brighten colors, and stabilize or soften plastic.
Plastics, such as plastic toys. Lead is used to soften plastic and to make it more flexible so that it can go back to its original shape.
Brass faucets may contain lead.
Antiques. Lead was pervasively used in the making of items such as Dishware, Painted tin panels, Lead crystal pieces, Ceramic items, Silverware. Jewelry.
Scuba weights. Some people use these to hold down the filter lines in the family's swimming pool, and their children accidentally, and regularly, swallowing lead-contaminated water
Mercury
This well-established neurotoxin lowers IQ and is known to cause brain damage, disrupt development and learning, and may contribute to cancer. Mercury also damages the nervous system, kidneys, and digestive system. (source)
Mercury is most commonly found:
Fluorescent lightbulbs. These include all linear, U-tube and circline fluorescent tubes, Bug zappers, tanning bulbs, Black lights, Germicidal bulbs, Cold-cathode fluorescent bulbs
Mercury short-arc bulbs.
Fever thermometers that contain metallic mercury.
Novelty jewelry, such as a glass pendant that contains mercury.
Dental metal amalgams. It is made up of approximately 40-50% mercury, 25% silver, and 25-35% blend of copper, zinc and tin.
Injections and vaccines. These may contain ethylmercury-containing compounds and Thimerosal that readily cross the blood-brain barrier, and convert to highly toxic inorganic mercury-containing compounds. These have been found in studies to significantly and persistently bind to tissues in the brain, even in the absence of concurrent detectable blood mercury levels.
References
Legacy and Emerging Plasticizers and Stabilizers in PVC Floorings and Implications for Recycling. Helene Wiesinger, Christophe Bleuler, Verena Christen, Philippe Favreau, Stefanie Hellweg, Miriam Langer, Roxane Pasquettaz, Andreas Schönborn, and Zhanyun Wang. Environmental Science & Technology 2024 58 (4), 1894-1907. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.3c04851. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.3c04851
Check out this interesting article on how and why arsenic found its way into wallpaper, bread, and baby carriages in Victorian times. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/10/the-era-when-poison-was-everywhere/503654/