Is that sparkle really worth it?

Those pretty looking danglers that you bought from the train or street vendor for a steal can be quite harmful to your health. These items are chemically treated and can cause severe harm to your body, both externally and internally.

One such metal used extensively is lead. This toxic metal is known to cause learning disabilities among children. Moreover, lead causes serious joint and muscle weakness, anemia as well as triggers multiple organ failure in adults. There have also been a considerable number of cases where children were detected with lead poisoning caused by swallowing lead particles present in artificial jewellery.

Yet another dangerous metal used in cheap artificial jewellery is cadmium. An inexpensive and toxic metal that makes jewellery sparkle, cadmium is more toxic than lead. If ingested, it can remain in your kidneys and bones for a long time. Another common metal is nickel, which causes allergic reactions on the skin when worn. In fact, nickel sensitive people can also have asthma attacks.

Most of these metals can easily flake or break and hence can be ingested even without one realizing it. These can be extremely harmful since they are known to cause hormonal as well as metabolic dysfunctions in adults. "Spare a thought while you buy anything that comes in contact with your body. How can a good quality product cost `20 on the streets, but `200 in a store? Chemically treated metal jewellery is a cause of a lot of serious aliments among women and children these days," says an expert.