Zinc is not something we pay much attention to, unless you are a sun worshiper who uses a lot of zinc oxide to protect lips and nose from getting too much sun. But it is one of the heavy metals that our soap, Clean-All Heavy Metals Hand & Body Soap, will remove from your hands or your body, especially if you have been exposed to too much of it. So we are always interested in any articles that appear about it. And a few days ago, an article in The Wall Street Journal caught my eye with this headline: “Zinc in denture creams poses risk”. Essentially the Food and Drug Administration is suggesting that manufactures take zinc out of denture cream (which adds to it’s adhesion), because of reported neurological problems associated with zinc poisoning. Not exactly something you would worry about ordinarily. Almost one year ago to the day, The New York Times (March 31, 2010) had an article about the same problem. Once again the use of denture creams was associated with nerve damage because of excess zinc.
Most people don’t pay a lot of attention to heavy metals. It all sounds too complicated and besides, what’s “heavy” about those metals? But more and more warnings are appearing in the media these days, to inform the public of the dangers that surround them. And we think this is good because being aware of what you are exposed to is the first step to staying safe.
And just for your general information, zinc is found in many places: it occurs naturally, and therefore many foodstuffs contain zinc, such as fish, cattle and plants. Drinking water also contains zinc and higher levels of zinc can occur from storage in metal tanks, industrial sources or toxic waste sites. In industry, zinc is used in mining, coal, waste combustion and steel processing. Soils heavily contaminated with zinc can be found in industrial areas and where sewage sludge has been used as fertilizer. Since the world’s zinc production is still rising, we can expect more and more zinc in our environment. So be forewarned.