Actually your wrong about the tungsten's, yes the dust is poisonous, but only when using thoriated tungsten's, tungsten is not poisonous, but thorium is radioactive. thus, if you stick your head into the sparks whilst your grinding it, yes you have a chance that over a period of cosntantly grinding them for 40 years, you might get some cancer. but then again, if you can do it correctly, you shouldnt be grinding. and no, the foot pedal is meant to control the amps, while using tig which is not bump start you are supposed to have a constant speed and you change the heat with the foot pedal. with bump start tig, you control the temp by going faster or slower. OA also requires the gas tanks which for some can be hard to store, obtain, refill, transport etc. because im sure all of you who have OA tanks store them the correct way, can someone tell me how far apart they are supposed to be chained up? i cant seem to recall.
and welding with OA is generally slow because of the heat up time required by the metals, also, compare the heat effected zones of OA to tig, tell me which is bigger.
Also, using gas welding generally results in weakened steel because of it being reheated it looses its hardness, or if you quench it will increase its hardness and result in much more brittle steel. Yes all processes do heat up the steel, but compare the heat effected zones to each other.
and Im sure you'll bring up the need to get argon for tig, although there are some similar problems with it, atleast it isnt flammable and you dont have to worry about your house blowing up.
Also, just wondering, are you a welder or self taught?