I think parent might have confused Germanium with Cadmium? I am no chemist. It could also require other more toxic substances to control reactions or act a carrier. The whole area around Sunnyvale is littered with toxic waste dumps from semiconductor manufacturing. [1] From [2], it says, "Some reactive intermediate compounds of germanium are poisonous", when then references [3] but I can't find the specific citation. I think Germanium is getting lumped in with other toxic chemicals used in semiconductor manufacturing like gallium arsenide, cadmium, etc.

[1] https://www.epa.gov/superfund-redevelopment-initiative/super...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanium#Germanium_and_health

[3] https://www.usgs.gov/centers/nmic/germanium-statistics-and-i...

https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/germanium#section=...

https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/cadmium#section=To...