Salvete omnes,
Many of us may've heard the rather absurd thesis that one of the reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire lay in a downfall in its demography caused by lead poisoning, as the water in their aquaducts passed through leaden pipes. This thesis has been easily invalidated by showing that the water passing through the pipes quickly deposed a chalk layer on the lead, so that the water, after a short time, had no more contact with the lead.
However, it is interesting to note that there was another important source of lead poisoning, that may not've caused the fall of the Empire, but could've had a more or less serious effect on Roman mortality rates. I quote an article by M.I. Finley that I just finished reading :
"The Greeks and Romans were great consumers of wine. As a preservative, the Greeks used a resin additive (hence contemporary retsina), the Romans a syrup they called 'sapa' or 'defrutum' (which also gave a pleasant colouring and a sweet flavour to the wine, as in modern Marsala). Sapa was prepared by simmering must over a slow flire - in a leaden vessel. A recent calculation that the result was about 20 mg of lead per litre of wine means that the Romans were systematically giving themselves lead poisoning for centuries, with a consequent increase in mortality and decrease in fertility. We therefore have the right to assume, though we can neither quanitify nor demonstrate, that in the retsina regions of the ancient world, there were a somewhat higher life expectancy...than in the sapa regions." (M.I. Finley, 'The Elderly in Classical Antiquity, G&R 28.2 (1981), p. 158)
Valete,
Atticus