Lead paint creates serious health risks, but this ad is from 1939, when lead in paint was normal. Many countries phased in bans starting in the 1970s or 80s, mandating lower and lower concentrations over time, or restricting permissible uses, or both. Some countries still allow unrestricted use of lead paint in 2026.
Lead exposure is very bad for anyone, especially children. Unlike certain other toxins, there's no known safe level of exposure, and it bioaccumulates. There are many other routes into the body besides paint, and some are associated with increased crime rates and intellectual deficits in children.
What I find to be interesting is the ad was 100% correct. Lead paint was much more durable than other forms of paint at the time, and it still outperforms many modern paints. It's still used industrially in some countries with lead paint bans, typically for large, outdoor, metal structures like bridges, holding tanks, pipelines, etc.
We have a ranch house out in the desert that was built in the late 1940s. Some parts of it still have the original coat of lead paint. Even if you wanted it to be pristine, that paint was a "reapply once per generation" thing.
Shame about the heavy metal poisoning, because the stuff's fantastic otherwise.
Just like asbestos, if you look past the health problems it has some amazing properties.
It made for great fake snow in old Hollywood (this is not a joke, they literally used asbestos)
Which is quite wild given we already back then knew the hazards.
the best cigarette filters!
Everything was better in the olden days.
Ships used red paint below the water line full of arsenic and mercury to prevent animal attachment.