Some current news: various books from the nineteenth century are being taken off library shelves because their covers and/or page edges contain poisonous dyes, as described in “That book is poison: Even more Victorian covers found to contain toxic dyes” by Jennifer Ouellette.
The issue in the article is straightforward: various dyes containing arsenic, lead, and other materials that people should not ingest in any manner were popular before people understood that they were poisonous. As with changes to the building code, even after the rules change, we must deal with the extant physical manifestations of past understanding.
This is certainly not limited to books, or any other single type of manufactured object. Everyone is familiar with the hazard presented by lead paint, 46 years after it was banned. I can’t remember where, but I swear that long ago I heard a description of an early seismic base isolator made up of alternating layers of lead and asbestos. It’s important to remember that when these various poisonous materials were introduced into products, it was because they had some good properties and the bad properties were not understood. Asbestos was a great fireproofing material, which is why is was popular. Lead gave paint a clear white color, which is why it was popular. The obvious question is what material do we use today that our descendants will regret? If we knew, we’d stop using it. So, logically, we don’t know.
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