rome and Lead-Poisoning

Concentrations of metabolic lead in buried ancient bones are obscured by replacement of calcium in apatite by excessive amounts of soil moisture Pb. Concentrations of metabolic barium in bones are affected in a similar way. Added soil Pb and Ba, expressed as log(Pb/Ca) versus log(Ba/Ca) among various bones at a given burial site, are positively covariant, with about 5-fold more soil Pb added for each unit of added soil Ba. The typical natural metabolic Ba/Ca ratio in contemporary people can be measured unambiguously because it as unaffected by industrial pollution. It applies to ancient people because it has not changed historically. The intercept of the covariance curve for buried bones of a given ancient population at the known metabolic Ba/Ca ratio indexes the corresponding metabolic Pb/Ca ratio in bones of that population. Lead levels which prevailed in Romans appear to have been similar to those in contemporary people, which are approximately 1000-fold above natural levels in humans determined by this method in ancient Peruvians. This indicates that studies of natural biochemical reactions in cells free of industrial Pb should be made, because most present biochemical knowledge is founded on data obtained from systems polluted with Pb 1000 to 100000-fold above natural levels. The 5000 year history of smelting Pb by humans indicates that a system of education fostered by genetically common lower brain center functions operated on hundreds of successive generations in a context of cultural changes invoked by feedback from developments in engineering technologies to give rise to the difference between present typical and prehistoric natural levels of Pb in humans. Archaeological and anthropological studies of early developments in writing, music and metallurgy by ancient Peruvians and Persian peoples should be combined with PET-scan studies of their descendants to discover if, as preliminary archaeological data suggest, the two ancient populations differed on a genetic basis in higher brain functions, yet are indistinguishable as metallurgical engineers. This would demonstrate that higher centers of the human brain did not exercise guiding control, through hundreds of generations, over those developments of engineering technologies which resulted in the extreme pollution of the earth's biosphere with poisonous Pb.

Topics: Barium; Bone and Bones; Calcium; Environmental Pollutants; Fossils; History, Ancient; History, Medieval; History, Modern 1601-; Humans; Lead; Lead Poisoning; Paleopathology; Peru; Reference Values; Rome; Social Problems

Heavy metals from urban runoff preserved in sedimentary deposits record long-term economic and industrial development via the expansion and contraction of a city's infrastructure. Lead concentrations and isotopic compositions measured in the sediments of the harbor of Ostia-Rome's first harbor-show that lead pipes used in the water supply networks of Rome and Ostia were the only source of radiogenic Pb, which, in geologically young central Italy, is the hallmark of urban pollution. High-resolution geochemical, isotopic, and

Topics: Archaeology; Environmental Monitoring; Geologic Sediments; History, Ancient; Humans; Italy; Lead; Lead Poisoning; Metals, Heavy; Rome; Water; Water Pollutants, Chemical; Water Pollution

It is now universally accepted that utilization of lead for domestic purposes and water distribution presents a major health hazard. The ancient Roman world was unaware of these risks. How far the gigantic network of lead pipes used in ancient Rome compromised public health in the city is unknown. Lead isotopes in sediments from the harbor of Imperial Rome register the presence of a strong anthropogenic component during the beginning of the Common Era and the Early Middle Ages. They demonstrate that the lead pipes of the water distribution system increased Pb contents in drinking water of the capital city by up to two orders of magnitude over the natural background. The Pb isotope record shows that the discontinuities in the pollution of the Tiber by lead are intimately entwined with the major issues affecting Late Antique Rome and its water distribution system.

Topics: Geologic Sediments; History, Ancient; History, Medieval; Humans; Isotopes; Lead; Lead Poisoning; Rivers; Rome; Sanitary Engineering; Water Pollution, Chemical; Water Supply

Topics: England; Health Resorts; History, 18th Century; History, Ancient; Hospitals; Humans; Lead Poisoning; Mineral Waters; Rome

In the Latium region, according to the regulations contained in the presidential decree DPR 496/82, the investigations of the second campaign--based on the measurement of blood lead levels (PbB)--have been carried out between 1992 and 1994. Three samples of subjects were examined: adult subjects (33 males and 628 females) living in Priverno, a small town in the South of the Latium region; adults subjects living in the Rome area (81 males and 168 females; subjects under the age of 15 (65 males and 54 females) living in the Rome area. Concerning Priverno, the median PbB was 70 micrograms/l in males and 40 micrograms/l in females; in Rome 66 micrograms/l and 42 micrograms/ l in males and females, respectively. In subjects under the age of 15, PbB levels were 40.5 micrograms/l and 35.5 micrograms/l in males and females, respectively. As for adults PbB levels were significantly higher in female than in male subjects and in subjects aged 41 years and over in comparison with subjects aged 15-40 years. PbB levels were significantly higher in wine drinkers in comparison with non-drinkers. The difference between smokers and non smokers was significant only in female subjects living in Rome. In multiple regression analysis the association of PbB with age, sex, alcohol consumption and smoking habit were confirmed, and a positive relation between PbB and the condition of being living in Rome. As for Rome, the comparison with the results of previous investigations shows a reduction between 50% and 60% of PbB during the 1985-1992 period.

Topics: Adult; Aged; Alcohol Drinking; Body Mass Index; Child; Child, Preschool; Environmental Exposure; Environmental Monitoring; Epidemiological Monitoring; Female; Humans; Infant; Italy; Lead; Lead Poisoning; Male; Mass Screening; Middle Aged; National Health Programs; Rome; Sampling Studies; Smoking; Urban Health; Wine

Authors examines the paleopathologic evidences of the atmosferic pollution in ancient time, point out the attention on two principal findings: pulmonar anthracosis and lead exposure. Pulmonar anthracosis is present in many mummified bodies and was due to the deposition on the pulmonar alveoli of carbon particles coming from the combustion of oils or vegetables for illumination, cooking or heating. Lead atmosferic pollution was very high between V century B.C. and III century A.D. in the North emisphere, in consequence to the impressive quantity of lead produced by Greek and Roman metallurgic technology (perhaps 80,000 metric tons per year around the start of I century AD). Cumulative lead fallout to the Greenland Ice Sheet during these eight centuries was as high as 15 percent of that caused by the massive use of lead alkyl additives in gasoline since the 1930s. Finally, the high atmosferic lead concentration caused a high exposure of humans to the lead: in fact paleopathologists, have clarely demonstrated a high quantity of lead concentration in the human bone dated to the period between III century B.C. and VI century AD circa.

Topics: Anthracosilicosis; Environmental Pollution; Greece, Ancient; History, Ancient; Humans; Lead; Lead Poisoning; Oils; Paleopathology; Rome

Topics: Greece; History, 18th Century; History, 19th Century; History, 20th Century; History, Ancient; Lead Poisoning; Rome; United States

Topics: History, Ancient; Lead Poisoning; Rome

Seen in perspective, it is evident that lead poisoning is one of the earliest occupational diseases, described already thousands of years ago. The first major upswing in the history of anthropogenic production of lead was associated with the development of the Greco-Roman culture and the most recent followed the Industrial Revolution. At the peak of the power of the Roman Empire, lead production was about 80,000 tons per year, lead and its compounds were used with great inventiveness in numerous ways, and lead poisoning was pandemic, with the severity of poisoning proportional to the power and status of the class. Intake of lead by the aristocracy may have been as much as 1 mg/day. The resultant mental incompetence and especially the rapidly declining birth rate among the ruling class are now believed to have been major factors in the decline of the Roman Empire. Epidemic outbreaks of lead poisoning have occurred repeatedly throughout history and still occur today. The estimated 3.5 million tons of lead produced annually during peak production in the 1970's included about 0.4 million tons of organoleads. Such intense production has increased global contamination with lead enormously. Even under relatively ideal conditions the daily intake of lead is so much higher than in prehistoric times that investigators must pause to ask themselves what a proper control group really is. Are investigators merely determining the effects of additional lead exposure on systems already greatly perturbed by lead? If so, how can we find out?

Topics: Egypt; Greece; History, 16th Century; History, 17th Century; History, 18th Century; History, 19th Century; History, 20th Century; History, Ancient; Lead Poisoning; Mexico; Peru; Rome; Spain; United Kingdom

Topics: Alcoholism; Female; Gout; History, Ancient; Humans; Lead Poisoning; Male; Rome; Social Class; Wine

Topics: Gout; History, Ancient; Humans; Lead Poisoning; Life Style; Male; Rome

Topics: Female; Gout; History, Ancient; Humans; Lead Poisoning; Male; Rome

The uses and regional production of lead in ancient times are summarized. Since there is no evidence to suggest that any deliberate attempts were made to curtail personal exposure to the mine dusts or the emissions from the forges and crucibles, it is surmised that many of the ancient artisans who worked with lead probably contracted plumbism. The number of workers so exposed is estimated to be over 140,000 per year during the Roman Empire. The ancient literary records of work-related plumbism, however, are surprisingly sparse.

Topics: Greece, Ancient; History, Ancient; Humans; Lead Poisoning; Metallurgy; Mining; Occupational Diseases; Rome

Thecolica Pictonum or colic of Poitou, under these and many other names, was a frequent, widespread, and deadly disease from Roman times until the eighteenth century. Its unique pathognomonic, notably a severe colic succeeded by paralysis and other central nervous system dysfunction, makes it possible to identify the disease with certainty as chronic lead disease, usually caused by the ingestion of lead-adulterated wines. The custom of sweetening and preserving sour wines with lead-containing additives is traced to the Romans. They had made the empirical discovery that sapa, a syrup prepared by concentrating must in a lead vessel, kept wine from spoiling and that it had, moreover, an agreeable flavour.Reports of outbreaks of the colica Pictonum appear in the medical literature from Roman times, but the correct aetiology of the disease was not discovered until the seventeenth century following a series of outbreaks in Southern Germany which were related to unfavourable climatic and political conditions. The connexion between the disease and prevailing methods for "correcting" wines was drawn in 1696 by Eberhard Gockel, then the city physician of Ulm. This achievement can be traced to his familiarity with Samuel Stockhausen's work on plumbism among miners and potters, as well as to the favourable epidemiological situation presented by Gockel's monastic patients. From the literary evidence assembled here and from experimental determinations of the lead content of sapa and similar concentrates, it is possible to estimate the lead levels and toxicity of wines from various eras. The levels range up to 80 mg/l and make it apparent that many wines were sufficiently toxic to account for the incidence and severity of the colica Pictonum. Explanations for the disastrous persistence of the colic of Poitou are discussed, as are the similarities between Gockel's approach and the methods of modern environmental medicine.

Topics: Colic; France; Germany; History, 17th Century; History, Ancient; Humans; Lead Poisoning; Rome; Wine

An attempt has been made to assess the degree to which past populations were exposed to lead by measuring the concentration of lead in bones from archaeological sites. Preliminary analysis of the results seemed to indicate that there had been a great variation in exposure to lead in the past and that, in some cases, lead might have made a significant contribution to the morbidity or mortality of the population. One persistent problem in interpreting the results has been to assess the degree to which the bones had absorbed lead from the soil. A priori reasoning led me to believe that, at sites where the bones were well preserved, little exchange of lead would have occurred. When I used physical methods to localize the lead within bones or teeth, however, it became clear that most of the lead was located on the surfaces, and this could only be explained by post-mortem absorption. At two sites I have found a significant correlation between the concentrations of lead in bones and soil taken from the same grave; this is further evidence for lead uptake after death. From the later studies it seems that exposure to lead in the past can only be determined by a careful prospective study taking random samples of bone and soil from sites, which can be dated to within narrow limits.

Topics: Bone and Bones; History, 15th Century; History, 16th Century; History, Ancient; History, Medieval; Humans; Lead; Lead Poisoning; Paleopathology; Rome; Soil; United Kingdom

Topics: Alcoholic Beverages; Gout; History, 18th Century; History, 19th Century; History, Ancient; Humans; Lead; Lead Poisoning; Rome; United Kingdom; Wine

Topics: Bone and Bones; England; Environmental Exposure; Female; History, Ancient; Humans; Lead; Lead Poisoning; Male; Paleodontology; Paleopathology; Rome; Tooth

Topics: History, Ancient; History, Medieval; Lead Poisoning; Rome

Topics: History, Ancient; Humans; Infertility, Male; Lead Poisoning; Male; Mouth, Edentulous; Rome

Topics: Greece, Ancient; History, Ancient; Humans; Lead Poisoning; Rome

Topics: Food Contamination; Greece, Ancient; History, Ancient; Humans; Lead Poisoning; Rome; Water Supply

Topics: Child; History, Ancient; Humans; Lead Poisoning; Rome; Urban Population

Topics: Environmental Exposure; Humans; Lead; Lead Poisoning; Methods; Occupational Diseases; Paint; Rome; Welding

Topics: Cooking; Cooking and Eating Utensils; History; History, Ancient; Humans; Infertility; Italy; Lead Poisoning; Rome; Wine