Reading a Thomas Midgley Jr. biography might change your mind.
He was famously warned of leaded gasoline's dangers, had to take a vacation to Miami to recover from lead poisoning. And also was famously a co-inventor of CFCs.
His only saving grace is that his name is also on the list of "inventors killed by their own inventions."
I interpreted the same fact the opposite way. Midgley was okay with exposing himself to lead and thought taking a vacation to get "a large supply of fresh air" would fix his lead exposure. This sounds like someone who didn't believe there were long term effects from chronic exposure to even very small doses of lead.
