What Is Antimony?

ATSDR says antimony ores are mined and mixed with other metals to form alloys used in lead storage batteries, solder, sheet and pipe metal, bearings, castings and pewter, and that antimony oxide is added to textiles and plastics to prevent them from catching fire and is also used in paints, ceramics and fireworks. A 2014 study in the Journal of Environmental Health Science and Engineering says antimony, titanium or germanium compounds are used as catalysts in manufacturing polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles, that antimony trioxide is one of the main catalysts, and that the amount found in bottles varies between 100 and 300 mg/kg.

ATSDR says that because antimony is found naturally in the environment, you are exposed to very low levels of it every day, mostly in food and drinking water, and that drinking water from some plastic water bottles may contain higher levels of antimony, but these levels are not known to cause health effects. The 2014 study found that antimony leaching from PET bottles into bottled water increased with longer storage time and higher temperatures. EPA drinking water regulations at 40 CFR 141.62 set a maximum contaminant level for antimony of 0.006 mg/L.

ATSDR says studies of workers, who are typically exposed to higher levels, show that breathing antimony dust can cause heart and lung problems, stomach pain, diarrhea, vomiting and stomach ulcers, and that swallowing large doses can cause vomiting. In 2022, an IARC Monographs Working Group classified trivalent antimony as probably carcinogenic to humans (Group 2A), based on limited evidence in humans, sufficient evidence in experimental animals and strong mechanistic evidence. The NIOSH Pocket Guide lists a recommended exposure limit of 0.5 mg/m3 as a time-weighted average, which also applies to other antimony compounds.