Scoria toxicity? Heavy metals??

I'm considering building an earthbag house on my land in AZ and filling the bags with scoria/cinders since I'm in a volcanic area with a mine a few miles away.

I came across this page (https://www.mychemicalfreehouse.net/2019/11/non-toxic-natural-alternative-wa.html) the other day which got me thinking. In the green box halfway down the page and in the comments, she claims that cinders and other volcanic materials other than pumice are toxic due to heavy metals they contain.

I've googled a bunch and found very little to corroborate this. A study from Mount Etna in Italy found higher cases of thyroid cancer in the area but I'm guessing that's more to do with the ash and gases from actual eruptions since it's still active (the full text was paywalled so only read the abstract).

The ground on my property is in large part cinders so I'm screwed anyway lol but I might reconsider surrounding myself with more of the stuff if there was any truth to it.

Anyone have any input?

See Bop wrote: A study from Mount Etna in Italy found higher cases of thyroid cancer in the area but I'm guessing that's more to do with the ash and gases from actual eruptions since it's still active (the full text was paywalled so only read the abstract).

I wonder about radiation, especially with it being thyroid cancer.

There are studies of the sites of active volcanos having heavy metals introduced to the environment due to the volcano. I can't seem to find anything concrete further than that.

I would recommend getting a soil sample taken of the material that you want to use and seeing about getting it tested for heavy metals. That will give you concrete answers before you decide how to proceed. It will also put your mind at ease i would imagine.

While I have no experience with scoria or other volcanic ash, it seems to me that the toxicity in the building with earthbags would be from breathing in the dust as a person is filling the bags.

Maybe this article might help:

https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/97-118/default.html

Thanks for your thoughts. Will definitely get the stuff tested and see. And yes, dust masks will be a good idea regardless

Well I reached out to the Arizona Geological Survey on Facebook, and it just so happens they'd recently done an analysis of the scoria in my exact area and they sent me the results! How cool is that??

Here's what they told me:

"We happen to just get back whole rock geochemistry data for the area's scoria. Trace element summary is below. In short, though, I don’t think there are any known hazards from building with basalt. Trace elements are locked up in volcanic glass or the crystal structure of stable minerals. Relevant samples are MC1, MC2, and MC3. Ignore SCO, its from a different part of the state and a different rock type. Values are in parts per million (ppm)"

I've attached the table of results