Lead and the Roman Empire- our demise?

0ne of the causes of the decline of the Roman empire is said to be the use of lead in their plumbing systems and cookware which caused lead poisoning. That can manifest itself in many ways. Abdominal pain and constipation can occur. Peripheral neuropathy can happen  with numbness and tingling especially in the hands and feet since those nerves are the longest. Numbness can cause falls or other injuries. The brain including cognitive function can be affected. The milder end of the spectrum can be a little memory loss, the severe end can be seizures and madness. Severe anemia and death can occur as well.

Lead is just one of the many toxic substances that can adversely affect human health. Two thousand years ago the health care providers did not understand that. Today we have no excuse. Despite this, according to the World Health Organization, there were more than 1.5 million people that died from lead poisoning around the world just in 2021. That is a huge number for just one toxic substance.

In an earlier post, I referred to a report from PSR (Physicians for Social Responsibility) regarding illness caused by fossil fuel use. It  includes references to numerous medical studies. These show many adverse health effects from our exposure to substances resulting from the combustion of fossil fuels- PM2.5, volatile organic compounds, nitrous oxides, etc.

Every member of our society in the United States is exposed to some amount of these various chemicals. Certainly, there are locations where an individual has far more exposure than other locations. But there is no safe location given how air and water pollution spread throughout the world. One must wonder how much of the increased incidence of dementia  is due to this exposure. But we do not need to wait for such studies to know that we should be reducing that exposure for all of us.

Since the EPA began phasing out leaded gasoline in the 1970s, our country had been on a path to reduce exposure to many of these dangerous substances. Even though I felt we could be doing so much more, at least we were headed in an appropriate direction.

But our current federal administration is doing all that it can to increase fossil fuel production and combustion, reduce the availability of clean energy, and claim that it is helping the American economy by doing so. Given our knowledge about the adverse effects of fossil fuels, we will only hurt the American people as well as the rest of the world to continue the path that this administration supports.

It seems to me that this administration is leading the decline of the American economy. Lead may have contributed to the demise of the Roman empire. Continued fossil fuel combustion will contribute to the demise of the American empire.

It is our responsibility to ourselves and our friends, neighbors, and relatives to be a part of the solution. The many ways to reduce our use of fossil fuels is well described elsewhere. But each one of us must make the decision to pursue that path. We can and must do that together.

It is patriotic to reduce our use of fossil fuels and pursue a clean energy economy.