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Fact Or Fiction: Christmas Cookie Decorations Can Be Dangerous?

(WWJ) They certainly don't taste fantastic, but for decades people have been powering through those hard little silver balls that decorate sugar cookies in the name of Christmas festivity.

Rumors have circulated on the Internet and beyond that those decorations -- officially known as silver dragees -- are dangerous.

Fact or fiction? Sadly, for fans of beautifully turned out cookies Huffington Post just confirmed it.

Stay away from the silver balls this Christmas.

According to Huffington Post, the FDA has ruled those swaths of silver are to be used for decorative purposes only on non-edible items.

"In other words, these silver decorations can be sold legally only if they're labeled as for decorative use ― except in California, where they can't be sold at all. The FDA recommends seizure or detainment of all shipments of silver-coated decorations that are "not confined to decorative use only," Huffington Post wrote.

Those swath of pretty silver are made of actual silver, which, if ingested in large enough doses can be dangerous. Large doses can turn your skin a bluish-gray color permanently and limit the absorption of some drugs, such as thyroxine, which regulates thyroid function.

Sure, those silver balls look pretty, especially on white icing, but for the sake of your teeth we recommend sticking to colorful jimmies.

 

 

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