We make fun of the Romans for eating out of lead plates and slowly going crazy, and yet here we are surrounded by a substance that might cause cognitive impairment as well https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7068600/
It wasn't just car fuel, we would also cover the walls of our homes with lead paint. A practice that still continues in some countries.
> As of 31 May 2020, 75 countries have confirmed they have legally binding controls to limit the production, import and sale of lead paints, which is 39% of all countries. In many countries, using lead paint in homes and schools is not prohibited, creating a significant risk of children’s exposure to lead.
https://www.who.int/news/item/31-05-2020-global-progress-tow...
One has to wonder whether the individuals who insist on selling lead paint have any morality or sense of ethics.
We've known about the harmful effects of lead additives in paint since at least 1786 (efforts to ban lead paint began around 1921) before it's ban in 1976 (US).
The unimaginable number of people who have likely being afflicted by health issues (learning disabilities, poor health, shortened lifespan) through no fault of their own, knowingly by those who manufacture and sell the products creating such debilitating issues, it's difficult to imagine there being any possible forgiveness for such actions.
The list of companies doing exactly this is very, very long. You can still buy packets of deadly carcinogens at the corner store. We’re still belching vast amounts of carbon into the atmosphere. We’re manufacturing all sorts of molecules that have either proven or suspected harmful effects and distributing them liberally across the globe…it’s a pervasive facet of our capitalist system.
Pf, rookie stuff. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radium_Girls
Following the intake of microplastics into the human body, their fate and effects are still controversial and not well known. [...] Not enough information is available to fully understand the implications of microplastics for human health;
That's probably what the Romans were saying back then. Or when uranium plates were used. Or when PFOAs were/are used in good contact.
They also knew about some of the risks of lead. Vitruvius (during Augustus) wrote that water through clay pipes is better and purer, and others comment about how the care you need to take when preparing food in leaden vessels.
e.g. https://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/wi...
You can use that argument to support the implication that everything might be dangerous.
I mean, there’s a reason why you don’t eat plastic packaging and I’m sure it could be made to taste nice...
Asbestos exposure often takes up to 50 years to have a detectable impact, then kills in short order.
Lead poisoning can take an incredibly long time to identify unless you find the source of exposure up front.
Plastics haven’t even existed for a century, and have been ubiquitous only in the last few decades.