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You have some good points. But I want to point out that lead solder in the pre-1986 time period did in fact have some contact with the water. Even more to the point was that manufacturers used lead in the end of point fixtures, like faucets, so the removal of those and other old end of point items, like valves, is a good plan.

I previously noted that the electrician that poisoned himself by chewing on the wire coating itself. The lead was in that colored coating. I want to mention something else the pothead boil. It's really not good because those fumes containing lead particulates are the most dangerous. The smaller the particulate the more easily it is absorbed into the human body where it can do it's dastardly deeds. It is the dust from deteriorated lead based paint that is ingested and with time builds up in the body that is a much larger hazard overall as compared to a random paint chip. However, to a small child the sweetness of a Lead based paint chip is an attractant.

And toddlers will eat anything. My baby brother had a taste for spiders and Florida grows big spiders. Mom was forever pulling spider legs out of his mouth. If spiders, why not paint chips?

Also, the concern with lead bullets and fishing weights is that the animals are eating them and being poisoned or being shot with them but not killed. They got lead poisoning instead. I think I read that they traced lead pellets and bullets to eagle deaths. It’s been a long time ago.

Indeed, and as a child, I learned that from my father, an EE, that the big problem was the lead in pipes and solder, so not to chew on solder and avoid water from old pipes. Paint tends to be stationary, which is why parents kept children from chewing on the windowsills and sideboards as I was told. They knew, and when I grew up, I saw the research used to justify what they did. A deep dive on church steeple architecture might be an enlightening endeavor, as well as tile patterns.