The reading passage contends that there are several evidences that lead poisoning was spreaded out among the Roman upper class. On the other hand, the lecturer brings up several points that contradict this argument.
According to the lecturer, lead couldn't contribute to changing people's skin color. This is because lead had to be able to find blood stream in order to change skin color, which means it should be injected into blood stream. However, the lecturer points out that injection was not commonly used among the people in that era. This casts doubt on the reading passage,which states that people widely used lead for aesthetic purposes.
In addtion, the speaker argues that Romans didn't have to worry about water pollution. This is due to the fact that water contained lots of calcium, so lots of minerals existed in water. Also, since this mineral created a coat between water and pipe, people indirectly contacted to water. This refutes the reading passage's assertion that lead pipes that carried drinking water caused lead poisoning.
The final point that was made by the lecturer is that since a small amount of sapa was added in people's wine, the total amount of sapa could be underestimated. The lecturer argues that this amount is too small to cause lead poisoning. This counters the writer's acclaim that lead poisoning was caused by sapa that was included in Roman's wine. |