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A 1983 article in the New England Journal of Medicine by Jerome Nriagu, a geochemist, reopened a debate that had been dormant for almost two decades. There, and in a book later that year, he argued that "lead poisoning contributed to the decline of the Roman empire." Yet, a review by John Scarborough, a pharmacist and classicist, has criticized the book as "so full of false evidence, miscitations, typographical errors, and a blatant flippancy regarding primary sources that the reader cannot trust the basic arguments" and concluded that, although ancient authorities were aware of lead poisoning, it was not endemic in the Roman empire nor caused its fall.

This criticism is apparent even to a non-classicist. In De Architectura, for instance, Vitruvius, who wrote during the time of Augustus, indicates that the Romans knew of the danger of lead pipes and, consequently, that terracotta was preferred.

"Water conducted through earthen pipes is more wholesome than that through lead;...

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Title: Fall Of Roman Empire
Approximate word count: 2895
Approximate pages: 12 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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