What item you use frequently would you be least surprised to learn is secretly bad for you?

I work in hazardous materials handling and safety, and I studied chemistry. I've done a lot of soil remediation and I'm pretty up to date on how we (Europeans) handle the safety of our air, food and water.

So, good news: your air hasn't been cleaner since basically we started burning coal. Your drinking water hasn't been this safe since, oh, pre-agrarian times. Your food is probably less nutritious per gram thanks to faster growing food, but your diet is (potentially) better than any human has ever had (depending on your personal choices).

That said, there are some things I avoid like the plague:

• Swimming in open water. It's (potentially) full of parasites, toxic algae, human and cattle feces and chemical runoff. Probably not all at once, but still. YMMV if you don't live near the sea, mountain streams are much cleaner then those at the river delta.

• Home grown food from urban gardens. Your soil is probably completely untested, and the idea of "maybe I shouldn't just pour chemical waste out of the window" is barely 4 decades old. And that's counting the dubious quality of planter soil that is basically unregulated, and what people use as decoration. (Do NOT use wooden railroad ties or tires as planters for food). And of course what people use as pesticides isn't exactly closely monitored either.

• Drinking water from wells, springs etc. see all the above.

• Ordering anything with wish/aliexpress that comes in contact with food. You know that stuff is completely unregulated, why the hell would you lick it? Nobody knows what it's made of.

And there's one thing I don't avoid, but it's super unhealthy: wood fires. Yeah, a hearth or a campfire is awesome, but the smoke is super fucking bad for you. The carcinogens are stronger and last longer than in cigarettes, and its a hell of a lot more of them. I lie to myself and say it's worth it though, and that I don't do it every day, and other bad excuses.

Toothbrush. In one hand it scrubs food and gunk away and helps distribute fluoride toothpaste around. On the other it’s made of tiny plastic bristles that are probably disintegrating when in your mouth and growing a fun ecosystem when out of it.

Plastic food containers. I mean, we already know it's pretty bad, but I would not be surprised if it ends up being way worse than we think. That, and most aerosols. Febreze, hairspray, spray tans, things of that nature

Not really "secretly" bad for you, but all the plastic in our lives. I wonder how we'll ever replace it cause everything you buy at the supermarket (in developed countries) is wrapped in plastic.

Air conditioning. All kinds of bacteria, dust, mold, algae, who knows what else is going through the evaporator, through the air ducts and blasting right into your lungs. Yeah, there's a filter, but it's on the intake side. It doesn't account for what has built up in there over the years and it doesn't catch everything. The one in your car can be equally as gross.

The internet and all electronic equipment. I think they are doing something much more sinister than whatever is reported so far.

Our phones are probably doing something to us

Those water flavor squirts, mio or crystal light type stuff. I'll drink plain water over just about everything else (egg nog is the weakness and exception right now...), but the various lemonades or fruit flavors are always nice to have around. I wouldn't be surprised if something in their composition is not good for you.

A slightly more titillating answer would be lube. You're putting something on a mucous membrane, and it's almost guaranteed that some will be absorbed or ingested.

Warfarin blood thinners.

Wouldn't be surprised if we find later that after decades of use that someone's body can gain resistance to it. I'd be fucked since I'm on the blood thinner train for life*.

*or until we can start printing human cells to recreate human parts

Probably my asbestos fake snow.

Commercial yogurt. Yeah maybe it's just a tasty and healthy probiotic. Or maybe it's a way for food conglomerates to change our gut bacteria so that we crave even more foods with cheap sugar.

Probably my vape tbh

Methadone

Air fryers.

Most of them are designed so poorly that it’s also impossible to get all grease out of them. That can’t be healthy. My sister has a ninja air fryer, you can’t remove the top grate. There is grease build up in there. A friend of mine has one he brings it over during the Super Bowl party, the moment he opens up the lid on it you can smell the old grease come out of it. That’s not an exaggeration. There’s no way in hell that can be healthy. So it won’t surprise me if years from now people go we should never have used those.

It also won’t surprise me too much if there’s some health hazard with them other than just the buildup of grease.

Sidenote, what are these companies thinking to make a product where they know there’s going to be grease that is going to build up, and make it in a way that makes it almost impossible if not completely impossible to clean said grease?

Unless their thought process is: use it three times throw it away go buy a new one.

Sugar

Bottled water. The plastic contaminates the fluid. Just drink straight from the sink if you live in an area that allows for it!

I'm so nervous I'm going to find out aquaphor is bad. I've been spreading it on my baby's diaper area since they were born. I know she's absorbing it right into her little body. There's been so many articles about how diapers and tampons and pads are all just awful for us and full of lead and who knows what else and we're putting them right against our mucus membranes and just poisoning ourselves.

The electric heating pad I sleep on. I wouldn't be surprised if some study finds that something about sleeping on wires would be kinda bad long-term. Maybe something about residual currents or the minimal magnetic field from the wires, idk

Flavored soda water.

Huel. I'm just waiting for some random internet person doctor to tell me how exactly I'm making my already shaky health significantly worse because I'm too lazy tired for anything more than powder in water.

Also, the decades-old radiator in my flat is probably just spewing all sorts of hazardous particles and nobody will know until they do an autopsy on me.

All of these Omega-3 and so-called healthy foods that have markup prices.

Like, an organic banana vs a original banana. What the fuck am I missing out on here?

Does it count if I already know whiskey is bad for me?

I wouldn't expect shaving cream to do it; goo and foam and pretty normal

My insulin.

Cosmetic products containing carbomer - it's literally microplastic acryllic and it's in EVERYTHING

UHT milk.

Beer

almond milk

Bad advice.