When occupational lead poisoning occurred, it was ignored because most workers were slaves. Lead is one of the oldest pigment and paint bases known to man still in use. The Romans used lead extensively as a pigment and paint base. They used lead to sweeten their wine because of its minty sweet flavor, for eating utensils and to line their aqueducts. There exist strong correlations between the decline and fall of the Roman Empire due to lowered birth rates and increased mental disturbances among the ruling class and lead poisoning.
Many historians credit the fall of the Roman Empire to lead poisoning.
During the middle ages lead was used for cistern pipes, roofing, extraction of silver and gold from copper, glazing pottery and making clear glass. The economic and technological development of this period is reflected in the fact that lead poisoning then affected miners and metal workers. Bernardino Ramazzini, the father of occupational medicine, wrote in 1700 A.D. of fifty-four different occupations associated with lead poisoning and described some of them in the section concerning potters and printers. First their hands become palsied, they then become paralytic, splenetic, lethargic and toothless so that one rarely sees a potter whose face is not cadaverous and the color of lead. I mean they are very poor.