Toenail Clippings

I’ve heard about finding arsenic in the hair of the deceased when poisoning was suspected, and on another note, I’ve heard of strange collections like belly button lint, but collecting toenail clippings was a new one for me. My husband suggested toenail clippings as a blog topic and this is what I found out.

In New Jersey, in an area designated by the EPA as a Superfund site, researchers are collecting toenail clippings from residents to try and measure hexavalent chromium, a known carcinogen, exposure. Lots of people reside above an underground (in groundwater and soil) plume of this toxic waste. It is the same stuff that sickened Californians whose story was told in the movie "Erin Brockovich." As many as 600 structures and 3,600 residents are at risk of exposure and the data from slow growing toenail clippings can help determine where the exposure is having the greatest impact.

I am thinking for many of these folks the wait for results will be a (toe) nail biter. I hope the toxins don’t turn their homes into a toe away zone and the test results all come out toe-tally negative.