Did you ever go fishing using lead weights on your line? My father used to melt and cast his own.

I worked in a small town newspaper, casting the 'cuts' for the photos and ads, and feeding lead slugs to the Linotypes. No breathing mask, not even an exhaust fan over the vat of molten lead.

Your doctor and dentist wear lead aprons to reduce exposure to xrays.

Your car battery had 10-15 pounds of lead in it.

The lead hysteria is another effort of those people in the world who think all risk can be reduced to zero. The risk from handling lead is tiny. Best not to eat it, though. The only documented injury I know of is children chewing the lead-based paint off their crib and eating it. Likewise with windowsills and molding in the home. I remember doing all of these, with no permanent brain damage [g].