Thursday, March 15, 2012

A reader asks:

Doc Lang, what’s up with why vintners persist in wrapping wine corks with lead foil? It’s been long supposed that the downfall of ancient Rome was due in part to their eating off lead platters and getting their drinking water through lead pipes. Ingestion of lead causes bizarre behavior: the Romans sicced tigers on Christians, chased Republicans from the Senate, took baths together, and gave orgies a bad name while parading around in togas and sandals with leaves on their heads. I can’t help but wonder: do trace amounts of lead from many bottles of wine explain the current primary season?

Quite confused

Berkeley

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