@cozykaffe@snouts.online Lead is, if we remember right, much less toxic than mercury. We don't get squeamish working with lead, anyway, while we absolutely do if we ever have to work with mercury. Or cadmium, for that matter. Cadmium is also very toxic and for whatever reason people seem to not know of it in the same way they know of mercury and lead.
@cozykaffe@snouts.online Arsenic, on the other hand, just wants you dead. Arsenic metal is just as toxic as its compounds, and it doesn't resist oxidation anywhere near as well as lead and mercury.