We like to think we have a pretty good understanding not only of what's in our cupboards for food, medicine, and cleaning products, but also which items are dangerous and how they all work and interact with each other. However, it's a complex world, and it can often be difficult to keep track of everything at once. Unfortunately, there are dangerous items lurking in our households that even the best of us often remain largely unaware of.
10. Bleach and ammonia-based cleaners can release chloramine gas.
Most people don't realize that many cleaning products actually contain ammonia, and those that don't likely don't contain bleach. Since most people aren't even aware of how potent ammonia is—or even what it is—many also don't know that when ammonia and bleach mix, they form something called chloramine gas, which is often confused with tear gas due to its milder, yet similar, effects.
Many people cleaning their homes, especially in the early days of the pandemic, accidentally mixed two types of cleaning products and began struggling with watery eyes, respiratory distress, and other symptoms before running to a ventilated area to recover, only later realizing what they had done. The easiest way to avoid this trap is to read the label and simply ensure you don't mix cleaning products containing ammonia and bleach. However, it's also important to note that natural sources of ammonia, such as urine, can also cause this effect. This is why experts advise against using cleaning products containing bleach to disinfect toilets, diaper pails, litter boxes, or other areas that may contain high levels of natural ammonia.
9. Too much cinnamon can cause liver poisoning.
Most people are smart enough to avoid the cinnamon challenge, if for no other reason than the choking hazard, but it can still be quite dangerous even without such overuse. You see, there are two types of cinnamon: Ceylon cinnamon and cassia cinnamon. These two types have an important difference: one contains significantly more of the active compound that can cause liver damage than the other. Cassia cinnamon, the most commonly sold in stores, contains high amounts of coumarin, which can easily cause liver toxicity in humans.
Some studies have now attempted to use it for therapeutic purposes, such as diabetes, but the evidence is unclear and the risks are high. Scientific studies have shown that the safe amount of cassia cinnamon per day for a person weighing approximately 160 pounds is less than one and a half teaspoons, unless you want to avoid potential long-term liver damage.
8. Air fresheners are harmful to your pets.
People don't usually think much of air fresheners, but they can be quite dangerous for our pets. The problem is that these air fresheners don't just release harmless organic compounds into the air. They actually use so-called volatile organic compounds, which are known to potentially cause cancer in animals. They can certainly cause respiratory distress in pets, even if you don't use them intensely enough to cause death.
Worse still, the study found that 133 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were detected among 25 major brands, at least 17 different ones per product. Of these, 24 compounds are considered toxic under U.S. law, with each product containing at least one of these toxic compounds. This represents a vast number of potentially dangerous compounds that are very difficult to properly test. Cats are particularly at risk, as not only are they much smaller than us, but they also tend to groom themselves by licking, meaning anything airborne on their fur can end up in their digestive tract. For dogs, this isn't as much of a concern, although it's still a reason to be cautious.
7. Using deodorant spray too often can kill you.
It's worth noting, first and foremost, that deodorant sprays carry clear warning labels, but the alarming number of incidents involving teenage fatalities has some questioning whether this is enough. A report from the United Kingdom found 11 deaths related to this cause between 2001 and 2020. While this number is small, it's far higher than it should be, as it's an entirely preventable cause of death. These teens were abusing the spray either to smell nice instead of showering, as in the case of one British teenager, or to comfort themselves with a pleasant scent, as in the case of another teen—a British girl who died at just 14 years old.
Worse still, not all death certificates will list this cause as a direct consequence, so the actual number can be difficult to track. Also during the same period, there were 324 deaths related to inhalation of butane, a deadly chemical found in body sprays. This certainly leaves the most important question: why did spray deodorants use such a dangerous chemical in the first place, knowing it would be applied near human skin?
6. Too much nutmeg can cause myristic poisoning.
Most people think of nutmeg as a spice for eggnog and cakes, but it actually contains an active compound called myristicin, which can have very potent effects. This active compound in nutmeg is rarely ingested in large enough quantities to have any effect. A small sprinkle on eggnog or a teaspoon on an entire cake is unlikely to have much effect. However, just one or two teaspoons, depending on a person's weight, can cause myristicin poisoning. Now, with the exception of the case of an eight-year-old boy, there are no known deaths, but it's called toxicity because it typically results in a very unpleasant fever and high, which some people try to exploit recreationally.
Malcolm X became famous for this, admitting in his biography that in prison he used a matchbox of nutmeg mixed with cold water, and he claimed it hit like "three or four refrigerators." But before anyone gets interested in using nutmeg to emulate Malcolm X (or just to get high), he used it because he was in prison and had nothing else, because it really unpleasant A high. While there's no conclusive evidence, as it's unethical to test exactly how much will kill you, it's called toxicity for a reason. When you have too much, you experience hallucinations and an extremely intense high, but you also experience sweating, high fever, nausea, and a feeling of impending doom that can last 24 hours or even longer.
5. Appliance fires are becoming a serious problem
When people think of home fires, they think of things like unattended candles or other careless issues, but appliance fires are becoming a major problem, and often they occur through no fault of the user. Now, we can't mention appliance fires without mentioning toasters, but contrary to popular belief, they are one of the least common causes of these accidents. The fact that people often forget to clean them doesn't help, but research by consumer agencies has shown that most toaster fires are not caused by the consumer's own fault, and that there is a truly measurable problem when it comes to faulty electronics. One of the most common causes of toaster fires is that they won't stop when the timer tells them to, continuing to heat up (and get hotter, and hotter) until a fire starts.
However, as bad as toasters are, they're hardly the worst offenders. From 2001 to 2009, consumer protection agencies counted all appliance fires and found that over 35,000 were likely caused by faulty appliances. Of these, they were confident that over 15,000 were actually caused by an electrical problem with the appliance. In these counts, they found that stoves, dishwashers, dryers, refrigerators, and other large appliances actually caused far more fires than small appliances like toasters. Experts believe these electrical problems are often linked to a single faulty part, which can cause appliances to overheat, fail to turn off when they should, or turn on without warning.
4. Raw flour is often a carrier of E. coli.
Many people dismiss the dangers of raw flour and, when worried about raw dough, think only of eggs. They may not realize that scattering raw flour around the kitchen is almost as bad as doing the same with raw chicken. The problem is that flour that hasn't yet been cooked—even if we don't think of it that way—is actually raw food and can often contain E. coli. This, of course, is a contaminant that often causes recalls of products like lettuce. This means, as experience shows, you really shouldn't use raw dough as a toy for children to make clay figurines, nor should you let it spread around your kitchen without thoroughly disinfecting it, and you really should never eat it. Not that we expect people to gobble up spoonfuls of flour, but still.
Now, some people have heard of raw cookie dough, which is sold this way and is safe to eat. This dough is often eggless and contains flour that has been specially heat-treated before being added to the cookie dough. Some people may think this is safe to do at home, so they can make their own cookie dough, but in fact, food experts don't recommend this. They simply don't believe that most home processes heat the flour adequately enough to ensure the removal of any contaminants, such as E. coli.
3. Moderate amounts of licorice on a regular basis can kill you
Many people give black licorice little thought, enjoying it as a snack. But excessive consumption can easily be fatal, as it contains a dangerous compound called glycyrrhizic acid. The problem is that this compound, while beneficial in small amounts in real licorice, can be very dangerous in large quantities. Many people, either eating it as a regular snack or trying to use it in supplements or teas for its health benefits, have accidentally overdosed on it and put their health at risk. More than two ounces a day for two weeks is more than enough to cause noticeable health problems, including high blood pressure and extremely low potassium levels.
Now, although fatalities are relatively rare, they do occur from time to time and typically affect older adults aged 50 and older. Unfortunately, in addition to the fact that it's more popular with older people and the fact that the risks are little known, its health effects are more concerning for older adults than for younger, healthier individuals. Cardiac arrhythmia, high blood pressure, blood acidity disorders, and low potassium levels may be bad for a young person, but they are much more likely to be fatal for an older person.
2. Wedding crashers can be funny, but eye drops are no laughing matter.
Scene in «Uninvited Guests» , The scene where a man swallows eye drops and ends up in the toilet is played for laughs, and most people consider it a harmless joke. It's important to understand that the real-life effects of this drug are far worse than just an uncomfortable time spent on the toilet. The thing is, the eye drops contain something called tetrahydrozoline, which is very useful for relieving redness and irritation of the eyes, but when ingested or injected, it causes dangerous drops in blood pressure and heart rate. In fact, not only is this fatal, but the gastrointestinal side effect we see in the popular film is not a common side effect at all.
A more common side effect of taking too much, especially over a long period of time, is death, as extremely low blood pressure and heart rate can kill without medical treatment. In some cases, people have killed others by using eye drops as poison, and in one case, a woman was even convicted of murdering her husband by poisoning his drink with eye drops and sentenced to 25 years in prison.
1. You should monitor your tuna consumption due to mercury levels
Most people don't think much of it, probably because of the small can size, but tuna is actually quite a large fish. Therefore, the government has guidelines on how much we should eat to avoid mercury accumulation. If people eat that much, they shouldn't eat any other fish that week. Now, you may notice that light tuna is specifically mentioned here, and that's because it actually has different mercury levels than albacore or white tuna. Albacore tuna typically contains about three times more mercury than smaller tuna, such as skipjack, which is typically found in light tuna. This means that if you enjoy the more expensive white tuna, you really shouldn't eat more than one can a week, and again, you shouldn't eat any other fish in the same week.
This advice, however, is for adults. The recommendation for children and pregnant or breastfeeding mothers is that they should ideally avoid tuna altogether. If they do eat it, they should especially avoid white tuna and stick to one can of light tuna. However, children and young mothers (as well as other adults) are still advised to regularly include low-mercury fish in their diets, rather than simply consuming beef and poultry products, due to concerns about mercury poisoning.