Old Toasters From This Era Might Be Hiding A Serious Health Risk

If you're a lover of old things, finding a T-20 Sunbeam toaster from the early 1940s is a dream come true. With its shiny chrome sides and rounded top, it's kinda like having an Airstream camper sitting on your counter. Certainly, it's just as handsome as one of those old trailers. What you may not know is that its signature cloth-covered cord might have something in it you don't want, aside from frayed wires: asbestos. 

If you grew up hearing about asbestos in the ceiling tiles of old buildings and the cancer it could cause, learning that it was also a component in your vintage toaster is probably a bit unsettling. However, it being a part of an old toaster isn't as illogical as it might seem. Or so the thinking went. Its purpose was to provide insulation against heat, and toasters weren't the only vintage kitchen appliance that got the asbestos treatment. Many items like vintage Crock Pots, coffee pots, and popcorn poppers had asbestos in them. In fact, if you're in the market for such a retro find, a good rule of thumb to keep in mind is that if your toaster was made before the 1980s, there's a good chance it contains asbestos.

However, the issue that makes the collectors of these old kitchen appliances particularly mournful is its presence in their prized bread cooker's cloth-covered cords. That particular feature counts among the reasons why these retro treasures are so popular. Between that, its Bakelite handles, and the logo made from the cool, scripty Atomic Age font, it's hard not to like the toaster, even if owning it might be bad for you.

Unlike some man-made substances, like phthalates and chemical pesticides, which are vilified as the health hazards they are, asbestos is actually a natural substance. It's a mineral that can be spun into threads. Being able to transform it so easily made it possible to incorporate asbestos into insulation, ironing board pads, and toaster cords. And to be fair, it wasn't just Sunbeam toasters that contained it. Brands like Westinghouse, General Electric, Conair, and more did, too.

Asbestos was ubiquitous. A stat on Asbestos.com suggests that around 27 million people were exposed to asbestos from the years 1940 and 1979. However, reports of its potential health risks, including lung inflammation and cancers like mesothelioma, go all the way back to at least the 1890s. However, it was used for centuries before that. King Charlemagne reportedly had a tablecloth made from asbestos that, when it needed to be cleaned, got tossed into a crackling fire instead of the washtub.

All of that said, if your kitchen counter is begging for a retro Sunbeam of its own, you're not completely out of luck. There are toaster mechanics who can not only repair the retro kitchen gadgets to put them back into good working order, but who will also replace the cloth cord with a reproduction that'll pass for the original. That way you get to keep your toaster equivalent of an Airstream without being exposed to the potential health hazards that could go with it.