History Memes

Aluminium is toxic. When it is oxidized, the rust layer is a non-toxic protective and watertight layer preventing the rest of aluminium from oxidation.

This is why you should boil water in your camping pans until they are rusted, and should never clean them too good by removing the rust layer. The rust isn't toxic, the aluminium is.

When you have aluminium jewelry, the rust layer wears off by friction on your skin. This gives you aluminium poisoning. In low dosages it's not too harmful, but on a large scale it can be even deadly. You should never buy aluminium toys for babies for example, there have been cases of babies dying due to aluminium poisoning. The most famous case is the baby of a French king who had aluminium toys.

So imagine an entire blanket on your body. Slow but steady aluminium poisoning because the rust layer slowly wears off with every move and because of bodily fluids.