The World's Most Dangerous Colors

You might not think of colors as dangerous but the wrong ones will mess you up.

Our world is filled with dangers, but we don't expect one of those dangers to be a color. And yet, some of the dyes and paints we've used on our walls, fabrics, and other possessions over the years have been as harmful as they are colorful.

In this brilliantly animated video, Ted-Ed walks us through some of the deadliest colors in history:

Perhaps the most famous of the deadly colors is white lead, which can still be found in houses across the country. Lead paint was desirable for centuries due to its brilliant white color, but the adverse effects of lead poisoning only became known in the last century. Lead paint was banned by most countries, but some homes built before the ban still have dangerous lead paint.

Other harmful colors include fluorescent radium green, arsenic green, and uranium orange. All of these colors were prized for their pure, strong hues. It took decades or centuries for people to discover the harmful properties of these pigments, and by then the damage had already been done.

Hopefully there are no more left.