I don't think he really appreciated the danger of lead. Its acute toxicity was well-known, but not its chronic toxicity.
And plenty of stuff is toxic in large quantities but harmless (or even vital!) in small quantities.
And plenty of stuff is toxic in large quantities but harmless (or even vital!) in small quantities.
He would then spend months in Florida recovering from lead poisoning.
He knew, and he didn't care.
I don't think that cumulative toxicity started entering the public mindset until well into the middle of the century.
He's not some incidental commentator. He's an engineer and a principle force behind this technology. He is responsible for the outcomes - 'I didn't know' is reckless negligence. And if there were clear acute problems, chronic problems weren't hard to guess at for anyone, much less an engineer, with all those resources, working on it for years.
well he's not some biochemist...
and even biochemists have trouble within their own field because there's so much 'unknown' stuff in biochem (eg Thalidomide scandal)