Samurai kids suffered severe lead poisoning

[Bob Hubbard]

http://content.usatoday.com/communi...i-kids-lead-poisoning-cosmetics/1?csp=usat.me

A ruling class afflicted with brain damage isn't a recipe for success, the authors conclude. "As samurai were the ruling class, severe political insecurity could develop when highly lead-contaminated samurai children grew up."

 

[Touch Of Death]

Wow. Thats very interesting. While the west killed itself with mercury, Japan was killing itself with lead.
Sean

 

[Archangel M]

Eh the Edo period was during the Tokugawa reign wasn't it? Not well known for wars or examples of Samurai craziness. Other than the evolutionary pains of a Warrior class turning into an administrative class due to a lack of wars.

 

[Tez3]

Queen Elizabeth the First was known for using powders containing lead to whiten her face as she got older. This practice ruined a lot of women's complextions as well as kill some of them.

Would Samurai mothers have breastfed their children though? In a lot of cultures high class women didn't. They would employ a wet nurse, always of a lower class, to feed their babies instead.

 

[Touch Of Death]

Queen Elizabeth the First was known for using powders containing lead to whiten her face as she got older. This practice ruined a lot of women's complextions as well as kill some of them.

Would Samurai mothers have breastfed their children though? In a lot of cultures high class women didn't. They would employ a wet nurse, always of a lower class, to feed their babies instead.

I'm not sure thats true for Japan. perhaps an expert can help us.
Sean

 

[Tez3]

I'm not sure thats true for Japan. perhaps an expert can help us.
Sean

Be good to find out! there seems to be a contradiction in that the Samurai don't seem to have shown brain damage on a wide scale but the children's bones tell a story of lead poisoning. A mystery story! I hope we can find out more, it's very interesting.

 

[Sukerkin]

Aye, from what little snippets I recall on this from my studies in Japanese history, the 'class' based norms were in some cases surprisingly similar amongst the ruling strata of East and West.

The impression is that the use of wet-nurses was as common-place amongst the Samurai as it was amongst Western nobility.

 

[Grenadier]

Also, don't forget about how various lead salts were used as flavoring agents (sweeteners) all over the world. In this form, it's very quickly distributed throughout the body, given its solubility.

Queen Elizabeth the First was known for using powders containing lead to whiten her face as she got older. This practice ruined a lot of women's complextions as well as kill some of them.

Interesting bit of history there... If the whiteners were inorganic lead compounds, then the absorption would be very slow, even if it were continually used. It would take many years to get lead poisoning from this. Given that she lived to the ripe old age of nearly 70 years old (impressive, since the average life expectancy was surely decades less in that era), I wonder what her lead content in her bones would have been?

 

[Tez3]

I think lead was used in a lot of everyday and common articles. I know it was used in paint and wallpapers for a long time until relatively recently.