▶ Topic :
The lecture maintains that lead poisoning has little contribution to collapse of Roman Empire. This opinion casts doubt about the argument from the reading passage that Roman Empire collapsed due to the lead poisoning.
First of all, the lecture asserts that cosmetics used by Romans indeed contained lead, however, they didn't contribute to the lead poisoning since they were not injected to their blood stream directly. To be poisoned by lead, it is important for the lead to get in to the blood stream directly. This refutes the idea of reading passage that usage of cosmetics containing lead occurred the lead poisoning among Romans.
Secondly, the lecture suggests that water pipes made of lead didn't make the water contaminated because mineral contained in water, calcium made the water protected from the lead poisoning. Thanks to calcium in the water, Romans didn't affected by the lead in the water pipe. This rebuffs the suggestion from the reading passage that lead water pipes made the Romans poisoned by the lead from their drinking water.
Lastly, the lecture says that sapa, the mixture which is made from lead pots was used in small amounts and it was usually watered down, so they had only trivial effect to Romans. It is true that sapa contained lead, however, they had little connection with lead poisoning due to small quantity and being watered down. This contradicts the opinion from the reading passage that sapa which is mixed with wine triggered Romans to lead poisoning. |