Study: Industrial Revolution pollution affected people unevenly in England ^{CEFR B2}

A multidisciplinary team published research in Science Advances showing that the Industrial Revolution produced uneven patterns of pollution exposure across communities in England. The investigators combined documentary records of sex, age and occupation with bone geochemistry and isotopic analysis to reconstruct lifetime contact with industrial pollutants. They examined skeletal remains from 94 adults and adolescents from two 18th–19th century towns—industrial South Shields and rural Barton-upon-Humber—and sampled long bones, primarily femora, to measure arsenic, barium and lead concentrations.

The results reject a simple urban versus rural model. Instead, exposure appears as a broad spectrum shaped by local industry, social context and individual identity. A striking finding was that females in industrial South Shields had markedly higher arsenic and barium concentrations than both males in that community and females from Barton-upon-Humber, indicating gendered patterns of risk linked to local conditions.

The team faced the technical problem of distinguishing metals that accumulated during life from post-burial contamination. Corresponding author Ali Pourmand of the University of Miami explained that researchers compared Pb and Sr isotopic signatures in burial soil and bone using the multi-collector mass spectrometer at the Neptune Isotope Lab; the isotopic compositions were significantly different, supporting the interpretation that the measured heavy metals reflect lived exposure. Lead author Sara McGuire noted the study can help reveal past injustices and guide policy to protect vulnerable populations, a pattern that echoes modern challenges such as the lead water crisis in Flint, Michigan. The research was funded in part through the Neptune Isotope Lab at the Rosenstiel School.