35 Inventions That Were Meant to Help Society But Turned Out to Be Absolutely Terrible

Isn’t it crazy how long it can sometimes take for people to do something about something dangerous? Lead has been used by humans since just about the beginning of time, and there’s written evidence from Greek and Roman times and on to more modern times that people were aware that it leads to serious health problems.

And yet, people continued to use lead for all sorts of things until really recently. We talked about leaded gasoline, but it’s also been used in paint and pipes, as mentioned here, as well as ceramics, alcohol production, tile glazes… It makes you wonder what we’re doing now that future generations will shake their heads at.