GoKawiilStudy warns black market mummy trade carries real toxic and microbial risks
Researchers writing in the International Journal of Cultural Property found that mummified human and animal remains circulating in the collector market pose genuine health hazards, not just legal ones. Historic embalming methods often used toxic heavy metals like arsenic, mercury and lead, while dormant bacteria, fungi and yeasts in the tissue can reactivate and multiply, especially after poor storage. The paper cites prior findings of dangerous fungal spores in mummies at sites including Palermo's Capuchin Catacombs and a Krakow church crypt.