[Paladin2]

Well, leaded gasoline tended to “Cover the Erf” too.

[Governor Dinwiddie]

You used to be able to go to the hardware store, and buy powdered lead, linseed oil, turpentine, and tint to mix your own paint. This was the technology of the time, used worldwide. It is not unique to Sherwin-Williams.

Hundreds of millions of people grew up around lead paint and leaded gasoline and suffered no ill effects.
 

[Axenolith]

And there were people who said putting that lead in was going to poison the hell out of it. People knew lead was poisonous back then, they just figured it was either diluted to harmlessness in air or sequestered permanently in paint.

Arguing that angle with the generally accepted practices and standards of the time would probably garner a win but arguing “we just didn’t know” is probably going to choke and have terrible optics too...