Article doesn’t say what the primary material of the thermos was, but that the man got lead poisoning due to the container “rusting”. Maybe it was an iron/steel lining over a lead core? In any case it doesn’t sound like something most people have to worry about.

Also the article ends with a mention of a guy who made coffee with stale beans daily and his liver failed. That’s… Not something you can attribute to stale coffee alone. It’s possible the beans were consistently moldy, and that the mycotoxins accumulated over years to the point that his liver gave out, especially if he already had health problems. But it would take years of exposure.

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/autism-spectrum-disorders-asd

Autism isn’t a “mental state”, it is structural differences in the brain. Being included in the DSM doesn’t automatically classify something as a mental illness, the DSM is published by a single body, the APA. Other professional individuals and organisations have opinions on that: https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/the-concept-of-mental-illness-and-why-the-dsm-approach-is-wrong

My only correction would be that autism isn’t a mental illness. It’s a difference in brain structure - synaptic density seems to play a significant role (https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/a-key-brain-difference-linked-to-autism-is-found-for-the-first-time-in-living-people/).

“Eccentric” would indeed have been the word, even as late as the 80s. And that’s just men; women often present symptoms differently, or different symptoms entirely and even today ASD can go unnoticed for much longer in young women.