You can get cancer from smoking one cigarette. You're not going to get cancer from smoking one cigarette. Both comments are basically true. That is why we're less concerned about homeowners dealing with lead then we are professionals. A carpenter or a plumber or a demolition worker is going to be exposed to a thousand times more dangerous things than someone that remodels 10 houses in their lifetime. Enough so that we need to take measures to protect. A little lead paint in your body at the age of 30 is probably not going to kill you. In fact, not even close.