Holi 2020: Health Hazards Of Colours That You Should Be Aware Of

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Holi, the celebration of colours is back again and every Indian is waiting for the day when they play with colours. This year the festival will be celebrated from 9-10 March. Colours which symbolise victory over the evil, colours which shed away all darkness and colours which blends the bridges between communities and cultures. Earlier, Holi colours were out of natural ingredients like turmeric, flowers, vegetables etc but with time and dying natural resources, colours have become chemical content which has it's own side effects.

Holi Health Hazards -

Holi is played with three basic type of colours gulals, water colours and dry colours. Each of them have their own health hazards, which we often ignore.

Gulals/Colours – Holi health hazards is the worse in gulal. Gulala has heavy metal content in it and the new shiny gulal has added extra amount of powdered glass. The Holi health hazards is not restricted to skin alone, in the process of playing Holi, a lot of the powdered colours does get inside the system. The metal content of gulal often get deposited in the kidney, liver and bones. This directly affects the metabolism functions.

The colourant base of Holi colours is usually asbestos or silica. Asbestos is a dangerous element which is often said to have the agent which causes cancer. As for eh effect on the skin, silica dries on the skin and breaks down skin tissues. The shiny glass based shiny colours can lead to eye damage

Water Base Colours/ Paste – Water based Holi colours enter your system much more easily making the Holi health hazards almost unavoidable. The water base colours is basically colour paste which is dissolved in the water. It has a high amount of alkaline base and the final result is by mixing toxic compounds with engine oil. The very famous black paste, without which the Holi prank is incomplete has lead oxide. These harmful chemicals used in water Holi colours leads to blindness, risk to skin cancer and allergies.

Dry Colours – Dry colours which heralds the start playing Holi is extremely dangerous. Dry colours are made with high chemical base. Green colours have copper sulphate, silver has aluminum bromine etc. The dry colours during Holi get mixed in the air and are sniffed in the breathing process thus, entering our system. It created severe respiratory disorders and throat infections. The lead content in the dry Holi colours affects the nervous system and kidney in the worse possible way. Some of the symptom of maximum inhalation of dry colours is feeling of nausea, toxicity, skin irritation and loss of appetite.

Holi health hazards though should not undermine you from celebrating the festival but it's an advice to play save Holi with organic colours. Happy Holi!

Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is for general informational and educational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or a qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.