Go (coco)nuts! Share this story with your friends.

Don’t push your luck with these poisonous trinkets.

“The EcoWaste Coalition is warning the public that some lucky charms for the incoming Year of the Goat may bring bad luck and sickness as these contain large amounts of toxic chemicals,” reports Nathaniel R. Melican in Philippine Daily Inquirer.

The group found out that 13 of the 20 sample trinkets that they bought — which ranged from PHP20 to PHP250 — contained toxic levels of lead, arsenic, chromium, antimony, and cadmium.

The five substances are among the World Health Organization’s Top 10 “chemicals of major public health concern.”

Thony Dizon, coordinator of EcoWaste Coalition’s Project Protect, explained, “Exposure to these toxic metals has been associated with a range of health issues from reproductive disorders, birth defects, developmental delays, hormonal imbalances, heart ailments, neurological problems to cancers.”

The report noted: “The 20 trinkets were bought from sidewalk vendors in Binondo and Quiapo, Manila. They were screened using an X-ray fluorescence which can detect individual elements used to make an item. Excessive levels of lead and other poisonous chemicals were found in a lucky dragon amulet, a refrigerator magnet shaped like a frog sitting on a lotus leaf, a dragon refrigerator magnet, a Wu Lou amulet with a Medicine Buddha mantra, a figurine of a goat with a pineapple, a double fish lucky coin figure, and a Door Fu decoration, among others.”

Photo: KeyWordPicture.com