I found it is radioactive, but better than lead. Would I be safe wearing the necklace a lot? Could it hurt my pets? Thanks.
4 answers by real people - Is Bismuth safe to wear as a pendant?
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Bismuth Jewelry
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Bismuth 209 is the most stable of all of the isotopes of bismuth. It has a half-life on the order of 10^19 years. Essentially all naturally occurring bismuth is Bi-209 which is for all intents and purposes stable. There is no need to worry about the radioactivity of bismuth. Likewise, bismuth is relatively nontoxic.
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The radioactivity of bismuth is extremely small. You probably get more radioactivity from cosmic rays all the time than you would from a bismuth pendant. Lead is less radioactive than bismuth.
Your concern should be whether or not elemental bismuth is toxic — but bismuth is less toxic than lead, so it’s still a better choice than lead.
Your next concern ought to be about the strength of bismuth. It probably wouldn’t wear very well as jewelry. Your best choice would be to put the bismuth inside some sort of decorative casing so it won’t get abraded.
