Last US lead smelter shut down by the EPA

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Pete W.:

--- Quote from: mattinker on December 03, 2013, 01:20:30 PM ---If the Romans had known that they were killing themselves drinking from lead goblets, they'd have stopped doing it!

Regards, Matthew

--- End quote ---

Matthew,

With respect, I think the wine thing is a distinctly separate issue. Actually, I understood it was the Roman wine producers warming the wine in leaden dishes to remove the sharp acidic taste. I'd never heard of it being a consumer thing with leaden goblets.

We've learned since that it's far better to allow the wine time for the fruit acids to react with some of the alcohol to produce the family of chemical compounds called 'esters', the ones that give the pleasant tastes and aromas.

But I guess it's not a new thing for unscrupulous wine producers to take short cuts to get their wine to the market sooner!

I lived for a few years on an estate of houses that all had/have lead cold water service pipes. I was told by a professional chemist working for one of the water supply companies that if the water properties happen to be right, an impervious patina forms on the interior of the lead pipe, isolating the lead from the water. (He reckoned, to be sure, it was a good precaution to flush the toilet first thing each morning to get rid of the water that had stood in the pipe all night - after that, the water wasn't resident in the pipe for long enough to absorb any lead.)

The trick is, does the water have the right chemistry for that to happen - in some areas it does and in others it doesn't, a bit of a lottery perhaps! Even MDPE gets the occasional scare story!

mattinker:
Pete,

point taken about warming wine in lead trays, but it was still killing them!

I lived in Wales where we had lead water pipes, at the time, nobody worried about it, but now, from what I can gather, are now considered to be health risk. It is a very slow accumulative poison, so the effects take tme to show.

Regards, Matthewi

Bluechip:
Entirely reasonable about warming wine in lead vessels.

Wine contains acetic acid, I would guess there would be a reaction of sorts producing lead acetate.

AKA 'Sugar of Lead' 'cos it tastes sweet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead(II)_acetate

Not a problem for me. Never drink wine, can't stand the vile stuff ...

Dave

75Plus:
With all the items that politicians have restricted and outright outlawed they have not SAVED one life.

Think about it!!

mattinker:
A lot of lives have been saved with the banning of lead based paint.

Regards, Matthew

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