Time is a funny thing. We learn about products, chemicals, and substances, use them heavily, then later realise that they weren’t as safe as we thought they were. Asbestos is a prime example of that. We once used it in everything from Christmas decorations and clothing to insulation and cladding, and we now know it’s a deadly material that kills tens of thousands of people every year.

While asbestos is undoubtedly one of the most well-known substances we once thought to be safe, it’s not the only one. You can learn about some of the other most surprising ones below.

Lead

Lead paint never seemed like it was harmful. Lead pigment formed the base of paint cans and it was never touted as anything other than safe. Subsequently, lead-based paint was used on furniture, toys, interior surfaces, and a whole host of different products.

The lead and paint companies said it was safe. The parents thought it was safe. And no one realized for a number of years that it wasn’t safe. However, children started convulsing after playing with toys featuring lead-based paint, and some died slow, painful deaths. Many thousands more were born at permanent risk of damage from the paint.

Even when people started making the connection, the lead companies held firm and blamed the parents for allowing children to place toys and their fingers in their mouths. It took decades, but finally, the use of white lead in paint was banned by 1979 in NZ. While some paint types do contain red lead, they are adequately labelled to keep users safe. 

Today, we’re still picking up the pieces of this harmful substance, just as we are with asbestos. Homeowners must take great care when removing lead paint from their homes during renovations.

Arsenic

Arsenic is a natural element that you find in the water, air, plants, animals, rocks, and soil. You might assume that because it’s a natural element, it’s completely harmless, but that’s not the case at all. Arsenic can also be present in industrial and agricultural environments, and these can be toxic types that have been linked to cancer.

Although, it can take us a while to learn how dangerous natural elements are, which is perhaps why many families during the 19th century experienced mysterious illnesses, and some even went through the tragic loss of their children. They had no idea that the element they were using in wallpaper, food, medicine, textiles, face powder, and other products was a poison.   

In 19th-century England, small doses of arsenic were considered safe for a wide range of uses. It was even used to give wallpaper a vibrant green coloring, and paint makers used it to create colors like canary yellow.

It sure was eye-catching, but doctors soon noticed something – the wallpaper was killing people. The ink would flake off the paper, and homeowners would inhale it. Moisture, heat, and abrasion near the wallpaper could also cause toxic vapours to be released. 

Doctors eventually made the connection in the 1860s, and people realised that they needed to make safer wallpaper choices.

Radon

Radon is a colourless, odolourless radioactive gas that can be found in high levels overseas. We are fortunate here in New Zealand to generally only have low levels of this gas, and there are no radon hot spots to be concerned about. Best evidence suggests that radon in New Zealand is not something to worry about in our homes.

However, it’s a much larger problem overseas. At first, it wasn’t seen as a real issue, but research has now found that it poses a lung cancer risk.

Radiation

The health effects of radiation today are well known. It can damage the DNA in our cells and lead to cutaneous radiation injuries and acute radiation syndrome. High doses of radiation can also lead to cancer in later life.

But there once was a time when it was almost like it was part of a fad diet. People used to think radioactivity was good for them, so businesses started popping up everywhere overseas, taking advantage of this belief.

For a while, you could purchase radioactive water, radioactive cosmetics, and even radium pendants for rheumatism. There were a whole host of radioactive products that people believed had healing properties. In reality, these products were killing them.

Industrialist Eben Byers claimed to drink three bottles of radioactive water each day up until that supposedly healthy water resulted in his premature death. In 1931, his jaw fell down after the water disintegrated his tissue and bones from the inside. He didn’t feel any pain or discomfort, though, as the radiation had melted his nerves.

His vital tissue and organs continued to disintegrate in his body after consuming over 1,400 bottles, and he died in 1931 at age 51. Interestingly, Eben Byers’ body was exhumed to be studied in 1965, and it was still radioactive all those years later.