See my earlier response to @sokoloff, who helpfully posted an article debunking the myth of sweet paint chips. Lead acetate is sweet, no doubt, and it is possi

See my earlier response to @sokoloff, who helpfully posted an article debunking the myth of sweet paint chips. Lead acetate is sweet, no doubt, and it is possible that it was used in small quantities as a drier in old oil-based finishes, however I've seen no actual evidence of this, and even if it was, the quantities are unlikely to be sufficient to be detectable at all, especially years later. When we talk about lead paint, the lead is in the form of pigments such as lead oxides, carbonate, or chromate. These pigments constituted a large propertion of the paint, and it's these pigments that present the lead poisoning hazard. Lead acetate is not a pigment-- it was only ever used as a drier-- and it would make absolutely no sense to add it in any significant quantity to pigmented paint, because the pigments are themselves very effective driers. And indeed, I've never seen evidence that lead acetate was ever used in any significant quantities in paint. The legend about the Romans using it to sweeten drinks and sauces is historically verifiable.