Thank you for your help. Hi Martha, I was just browsing the list and noticed that no one replied to your inquiry. For about five years I spent hours on bulletin boards, news groups, and discussion lists talking about composting issues. By far and away the number one question has been the safety of paper in compost and in the soil. Here is a summary of the issues and my responses.
Printed paper contains heavy metals, particularly colored inks.
My information is that since lead printing plates were banned over 25 years ago, that North American paper is free of lead. There may be some concerns about composting old books or paper from countries that still use lead printing plates. Heavy metals in inks are insignificant and are at virtually background levels, certainly far below the EPA 503 rules. Inks are made from hydrocarbons which are a biohazard. Composting is a technique of treating many hydrocarbons through bioremediation into benign products.