The ancient Romans knew that lead is a dangerous metal but they tolerated it: Is it happening even today?

Abstract

In ancient Rome lead was used frequently. The most exposed to the noxiousness of lead were the miners and the workers that were treating the metal. The Romans noticed the lead caused illness with miners, but they nevertheless thought that small amounts of lead do not jeopardize the life of the rest of the population. Moreover, they used lead even for medical treatments. The ancient Romans were not conscious enough about the level of harmfulness of this metal for everyone's health, even for the wealthiest. New scientific methods proved a high level of environmental lead pollution at the time of the Roman Empire. Today, as the harmfulness of lead is scientifically proved, and is therefore eliminated as an addition to petrol. Moreover, most developed countries strive towards further elimination of lead from the environment. Serbia is only at the beginning of this process. Having in mind that in taking actions for the protection of environment we stay behind many countries, we should not take it only as part of the harmonization process with EU law, but as a common task that is in the interests of all.