WI: Effects of heavy metal poisoning discovered in ancient times?

It seems to be the fashion now to attribute high crime rates and mad monarchs to heavy metal poisoning (lead, arsenic, mercury, etc.).

What happens if the dangerous effects of these metals are discovered much earlier? The Point of Divergence can vary, but for the sake of example, let's say an astute Greek alchemist from Alexandria, Egypt finds out? That seems to be the earliest time for Western alchemy (you can use Eastern alchemy if you prefer).

(Or were the effects known earlier, and people simply ignored it? This could be the case given leaded gasoline and Paris Green paint).

Correct me if I'm wrong on any of these points.
 
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AFAIR at least some Roman doctors knew lead was poisonous. I'm not sure how early that became common knowledge, but people were aware that lead was not safe by the Renaissance and kept using it. The problem was that teasing out the actual extent of the damage from the complex of unhealthy things people did would have been hard. Low-level lead poisoning is hard to pin down in a generally less healthy population. So most likely, people would know to avoid exposure to high dosages, but still take daily low doses because they wouln't know they were that dangerous.
 
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