No conclusion yet. Many of the metals, metaloids in Himalayan salt have no biological role in multicellular life.fred wrote:Let us know your conclusion.
Besides the ones below, some other ingredients are also highly toxic (eg Osmium, Ytterbium and Gadolinium, lethal at 100 ppm), but present at low doses (<0.001 ppm) and (/100) less toxic when chelated. Tuna fish (< 0.3 ppm) may contain 10-fold more Mercury (Burger J et al) than Himalayan salt (0.03 ppm). Some other ingredients are very poorly absorbed (eg Iridium, present in Himalayan salt at < 2 ppm, in human tissue at 0.00002 ppm). The properties of other metals, metaloids etc in Himalayan salt are less toxic (or its toxicity not tested yet), yet often irritating to the mucous membranes.
- Lithium ; 4000 ppm (naturally present in plants, plankton etc up to 5.8 ppm)
Wiki: "Lithium is corrosive and requires special handling to avoid skin contact. Breathing lithium dust or lithium compounds (which are often alkaline) initially irritate the nose and throat, while higher exposure can cause a buildup of fluid in the lungs, leading to pulmonary edema. The metal itself is a handling hazard because of the caustic hydroxide produced when it is in contact with moisture. Lithium is safely stored in non-reactive compounds such as naphtha.[97] There have been suggestions of increased risk of developing Ebstein's cardiac anomaly in infants born to women taking lithium during the first trimester of pregnancy.[98]"
- Barium ; 1.96 ppm (present at levels of 0.013 ppm in sea water)
Wiki: "Water-soluble barium compounds are poisonous. At low doses, barium ions act as a muscle stimulant, whereas higher doses affect the nervous system, causing cardiac irregularities, tremors, weakness, anxiety, dyspnea and paralysis. This may be due to the ability of Ba2+ to block potassium ion channels, which are critical to the proper function of the nervous system.[38] Other target organs for water-soluble barium compounds (i.e., barium ions) are eyes, immune system, heart, respiratory system, and skin.[37] They affect the body strongly, causing, for example, blindness and sensitization.[37]"
- Lead ; 0.1 ppm
Wiki: "1 ppm is a benchmark in pharmaceuticals, representing the maximum daily intake individuals should have, though a prolonged intake of this level can also be hazardous to human beings[93][94]. Lead is a highly poisonous metal (inhaled or swallowed), affecting almost every organ and system in the body. The main target for lead toxicity is the nervous system, both in adults and children. Long-term exposure of adults can result in decreased performance in some tests that measure functions of the nervous system.[89] Long-term exposure to lead or its salts (especially soluble salts or the strong oxidant PbO2) can cause nephropathy, and colic-like abdominal pains. It may also cause weakness in fingers, wrists, or ankles. Lead exposure also causes small increases in blood pressure, particularly in middle-aged and older people and can cause anemia. Exposure to high lead levels can severely damage the brain and kidneys in adults or children and ultimately cause death."
- Thallium ; 0.06 ppm
Wiki: "Thallium and its compounds are extremely toxic. There are numerous recorded cases of fatal thallium poisoning.[48] Contact with skin is dangerous, and adequate ventilation should be provided when melting this metal. Thallium(I) compounds have a high aqueous solubility and are readily absorbed through the skin. Thallium is a suspected human carcinogen.[49] For a long time thallium compounds were easily available as rat poison. This fact and that it is water soluble and nearly tasteless led to frequent intoxications caused by accident or criminal intent".
- Beryllium ; < 0.01 ppm (naturally present in seawater at 0.0000002 ppm and stream water 0.0001 ppm)
Wiki: "The commercial use of beryllium metal presents technical challenges due to the toxicity (especially by inhalation) of beryllium-containing dusts. Beryllium is corrosive to tissue, and can cause a chronic life-threatening allergic disease called berylliosis in some people. The element is not known to be necessary or useful for either plant or animal life.[4]"
- Arsenic ; < 0.01 ppm (significant increases in cancer mortality appear at levels above 0.150 ppm in drinking water Lamm SH et al)
Wiki: "Arsenic is notoriously poisonous to multicellular life, although a few species of bacteria are able to use arsenic compounds as respiratory metabolites. Arsenic contamination of groundwater is a problem that affects millions of people across the world."
- Antimony ; < 0.01 ppm (the EU limit for tap water is 0.005 ppm)
Wiki: "Antimony and many of its compounds are toxic, and the effects of antimony poisoning are similar to arsenic poisoning. The toxicity of antimony is by far lower than that of arsenic, because the uptake of antimony(III) or antimony(V) in the gastrointestinal tract is at most 20%. Like arsenic, the most serious effect of acute antimony poisoning is cardiotoxicity and the resulted myocarditis, however it can also manifests as Adams–Stokes syndrome which arsenic doesn't. Reported cases of intoxication by antimony equivalent to 90 mg antimony potassium tartrate dissolved from enamel has been reported to show only short term effects. An intoxication with 6 g of antimony potassium tartrate was reported to result in death after 3 days.[75]"
- Cadmium ; < 0.01 ppm (in rats, exposure to 1.2 ppm cadmium in rice decreases zinc levelsOishi S etal
Wiki: "The most dangerous form of occupational exposure to cadmium is inhalation of fine dust and fumes, or ingestion of highly soluble cadmium compounds.[2] Inhalation of cadmium-containing fumes can result initially in metal fume fever but may progress to chemical pneumonitis, pulmonary edema, and death.[46] Cadmium is also an environmental hazard. There have been a few instances of general population toxicity as the result of long-term exposure to cadmium in contaminated food and water, and research is ongoing regarding the estrogen mimicry that may induce breast cancer.[47]"
- Polonium ; < 0.001 ppm (1 gram of Himalayan salt contains less than 1 nng of Polonium) and from Astatine ; < 0.001 ppm (readily decays into polonium), and indirectly from Francium ; < 1 ppm (readily decays into radium or astatine)
Polonium is extremely toxic and highly dangerous, and has no biological role.
Wiki: "Polonium-210 is 250,000 times more toxic than hydrogen cyanide. A fatal dose can be caused by ingesting about 50 nanograms (nng)". ... "the median lethal dose is 89 nng." ... "The maximum allowable body burden for ingested Polonium-210 is equivalent to 6.8 picograms" (0.007 nng)
"The target organs for polonium in humans are the spleen and liver.[71] As the spleen (150 g) and the liver (1.3 to 3 kg) are much smaller than the rest of the body, if the polonium is concentrated in these vital organs, it is a greater threat to life than the dose which would be suffered (on average) by the whole body if it were spread evenly throughout the body, in the same way as caesium or tritium (as T2O)." ... "In one experiment, rats were given a fatal dose of 8.7 nng of Polonium-210 per kg bodyweight; all untreated rats were dead after 44 days." ...
"In addition to the acute effects, radiation exposure (both internal and external) carries a long-term risk of death from cancer of 5–10% per Sv (about 11 nng Polonium-210)"
"Sodium chloride has a potentiating effect on Polonium-210 carcinogenesis". Little JB et al Shami SG et al
Besides the above, Himalyan salt also contains traces (< 0.001 ppm) of Radium (highly radioactive, carcinogenic and destructive), Actinium (highly radioactive, slightly less toxic than plutonium), Protactinium (highly radioactive and toxic), Plutonium (radioactive, toxic, carcinogenic), Neptunium (radioactive), Thorium (radioactive, increases risk of liver diseaes) and Uranium (weakly radioactive, but toxic).