There are a lot of toxic materials that used to be common in household products. I sometimes think about products that I used to buy and used in my business decades ago that are now banned – and that should have been banned a long time before that.

ARSENIC.
Arsenic used to be in a long list of consumer products.
Dye. Arsenic was used to make green dye. It was used extensively in paint and wallpaper. Just last month, I saw an old can of Sherwin Williams Paris Green paint. Paris Green is a pigment made from copper and arsenic. It is also known as Vienna Green and Schweinfurt Green. Arsenic was also used to dye thread and fabric. Many hand weavers died from handling arsenic green thread as the arsenic was slowly absorbed into their fingertips.
Skin Cream. Arsenic was also used in skin cream and wafers, products that were sold for centuries until Teddy Roosevelt created the FDA in 1906. They quickly outlawed arsenic skin cream. By rubbing arsenic on your face; blemishes, discoloration, and age spots vanish! This product really worked! The only problem with arsenic cream is that it will kill you as the arsenic is absorbed into your face.
Other. When I first became a landlord, I bought and used a number of products that contained arsenic and thought nothing of it, including snail pellets, weed killer, and green pressure treated lumber (which was known by carpenters in the 1970s as ‘green death’.) If termites tried eating it, they would immediately die. There are still products on the market with arsenic in them.

MERCURY.
People have known for thousands of years that mercury is poisonous, but nevertheless, it can still be found in a number of products still on the market.
Dental Fillings. ‘Silver fillings’ are made out of a mixture that includes mercury. I used to have a number of them.
Switches. Old freezers, space heaters, and clothes irons used to contain mercury switches that turned the electricity on and off. Some still do.
Thermostats. I used to have mercury bulb thermostats in my rental units as well as my own home, but I replaced them with electronic mercury-free thermostats. Mercury thermostats are still sold and in common use in the U.S.
Thermometers. If you have an old mercury thermometer in your medicine cabinet, you should get rid of it. Don’t bring it to me for disposal!
Light Bulbs. I used to have CFLs in my units but replaced them with LED bulbs. LED bulbs do not have mercury in them, but CFL bulbs do. CFLs are the light bulbs that are spirally. They are still sold in stores, but I don’t know why.
Batteries. Small button or coin shaped batteries contain mercury. They are used in hearing aids, watches, calculators, and toys.

ASBESTOS.

Asbestos used to be put in a huge number of consumer products, and it was used extensively in construction. I once owned a building with ‘cottage cheese’ ceilings. That is also known as ‘popcorn ceiling’ or ‘stucco ceiling.’ It was very popular in the 1950s and 1960s. You have probably seen it. It looks like the ceiling is covered with cottage cheese. It usually contained asbestos. You can still find cottage cheese ceilings in old buildings everywhere. It is very expensive to remove safely and legally.

Products to be wary of: A long list of products used to contain asbestos. Be suspicious of anything old that produces heat or insulates against heat. Some people like the look of and collect old Art Deco toasters, coffee percolators, and clothes irons; but these products commonly have asbestos in them. Old hair dryers, kitchen stoves, clothes dryers, baby bottle warmers, slow cookers, dishwashers, automobile engines, and popcorn poppers that were made before the 1980s may also have asbestos in them. Old oil lamps often have woven asbestos wicks in them. Fake snow used for Christmas decorations used to be made from fluffy asbestos. It is impossible to make a complete list of all the consumer products that used to contain asbestos. It was in hundreds of products.Kent cigarettes. This one is my favorite. Kent cigarette commercials on television boasted that their cigarettes had ‘the exclusive Micronite filter’, which they advertised as ‘the greatest health protection’ smokers could get. The filter was made out of asbestos. Imagine – claiming that you could improve your health by smoking cigarettes if you inhale the smoke through asbestos.

URANIUM.

Uranium Glass. I can’t believe they still make uranium glass, also known as ‘vaseline glass’ because of its color. However, Vaseline doesn’t glow in the dark, unlike uranium glass which does. I know a woman who collects uranium glass. She once offered me a meal on one of her radioactive plates. I declined.
Radioactive Wool and Clothing. About the same time that the government banned arsenic in thread and fabric, radioactive wool started being sold to knitters and hand weavers. I wonder which was more dangerous, arsenic thread or radioactive thread? In the 20th Century, a great many radioactive consumer products were on the market, including radioactive bath salts, toothpaste, cigarettes, chocolate, underwear, condoms, and baby pacifiers. After the bombing of Hiroshima, attitudes about radiation changed. Most radioactive products disappeared from the market by the late 1950s. However, you can still find these products in antique stores and in people’s basements.