For the taste.

eyegor · on March 30, 2020

People downvoting this as a joke, it could also bring up a point. Lead acetate was used as a sweetener occasionally in US food products up until the FDA was established. People have been somewhat aware of its poisoning effects since the Romans ("mad painters disease") but still used it in food and water systems. Pretty sure it is still used in some lipsticks as well.

_lffv · on March 30, 2020

Ah, Hacker News, where you get downvoted for making a joke.

(to be truthful this comment didn't really add anything, which makes it fair game to downvote, but I still got a bit of surprise seeing a decent joke grayed out)

stavros · on March 30, 2020

It was a joke, yes. I knew it'd get downvoted when I made it, but I thought it was worth the price.

m0xte · on March 30, 2020

Well I enjoyed it. I’m sure I’ll be downvoted by the resident Vulcans for encouraging deviant behaviour immediately.

anon73044 · on March 30, 2020

This isn't reddit or imgur. Why would you expect it to behave like it was?

It's literally in the guidelines: >Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive.