M9.4 Blog: Heavy Metals

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Lead, Herbert Needleman:
I found it interesting that Lead actually has a sweet flavor and that it was useful for winemakers to use it to counteract the astringent flavor in grapes. In the late sixteenth century it was discovered that the Lead in the wine was causing people to get sick. It is shocking that even though we knew a long time ago that Lead was bad news, we still continued to use it.

An environmental health response to a severe outbreak of
childhood lead poisoning in Nigeria, Casey Bartrem:
This is an amazing story of how one community came together to combat lead poisoning in their children (>400 deaths in children younger than 5). Entities from all walks of life swooped in and acted quickly to offer chelation treatments resulting in blood lead levels significantly declining. Nigerian authorities rallied together with local leaders to advocate for safer mining condition to prevent future disasters like this one. The cooperation of all of these entities provides hope that people can work together, no matter their backgrounds, to improve the lives of their people.

Comments

  1. Daisy AlbarranOctober 26, 2018 at 12:57 PM

    Hey Kera,
    I found the wine information to be surprising when I read it. I think because wine can be in a dark color form, it would be easier to hide how dangerous it looks. I think if you were to compare it to Flint's water where it is brown coming out of the faucet, nobody would drink wine if it were that brown color. It is very interesting to see how we have made changes in the wine industry but still haven't been able to address water crises. As for the other article, it is amazing to see how community involvement can change the way of life for the current and future generations.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownOctober 31, 2018 at 2:56 PM

    Hi Kera,

    I also found that fact interesting about wine! Also crazy that the lead levels in the wine may have lead to the fall of Rome. Makes me wonder how many other chemicals in the past caused harm to populations without a clear correlation due to lack of data. I also thought it was so great how the community and so many others came together in Nigeria to address the issue of lead poisoning. It also makes me hopeful for the future and that if we all work together we can make a significant change and prevent repeats of future outbreaks. Thank you for sharing!

    ReplyDelete

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