Yeah, except the "theory" that the fall of the Roman Empire was caused by lead exposure has been thoroughly debunked multiple times: not only were the Romans well-aware of lead poisoning, they also understood that lead piping is (generally) safe, Flint aside.
My understanding is that lead exposure was more due to cooking with lead cookware. But yes they knew lead was dangerous, and we know that plastics are dangerous. The question is HOW dangerous. We know now that lead exposure was worse than they realized. Will future people look back on us the same way?
> not only were the Romans well-aware of lead poisoning, they also understood that lead piping is (generally) safe
Would you mind citing that, please? Contemporary works on Roman culinary practices (e.g. Cool’s Eating and Drinking in Roman Britain) continue to underline that Romans were exposed to troublingly high levels of lead through consumption of defrutum boiled in lead pots.
We used lead gasoline knowing it was toxic. Their are real trade offs with this stuff, and lead exposure was a significant issue in Rome even if it was not their only issue.
