Toxicity of Lead (Pb) and Mercury (Hg) in Vermilion (Sindoor) in India And Comparison of Old and New Process of Formation of Vermilion

Abstract

India is a very great country because there are so many religions and so many festivals of them. All the religions havesame respects in here. One of the beautiful and very old religions is 'Hindudhanna' in here. It is a biggest religion inhere. Maximum populations follow this religion in India. 'Sindoor ' is animportant part of th:~ religion. Actually Sindooris a red colour which is used in festival, worship of god, and married woman uses as a sin~ of marria~e. This colour isused in here because red colour is a symbol of enerf!Y and ioR life in this reliRion .Modern sindoor mainly uses vermilion,which is an oranRe-red piRment. Vermilion is the purified and powdered form of cinnabar, which is the chiefform inwhich mercury sulfide naturally occurs. As with other compounds of mercury, sindoor is toxic and must be handledcarefully. Sometimes, red lead (lead tetroxide, also known as minimum) is added to sindoor. Red lead is toxic and aknown carcinoRen for laboratory animals, thouRh its carcinoRenicity to humans has not been established. Traditionalsindoor was made with tunneric and alum or lime, orfrom other herbal inRredients. Unlike red lead and vermilion, theseare not poisonous. In early 2008, alleRations of high lead content led the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to recallbatches of sindoor from several manufacturers.