I have a question with regard to the toxicity of corroded NiCd penlight
batteries.  Two years ago, in the course of moving, I came upon a
sandwich bag containing two rechargeable NiCd penlight batteries (in a
small charger), along with several cassette tapes and floppy disks.
Before realizing that the two batteries had a corroded ring of white
powder at their ends, I took out the floppies and cassettes, and set
them on top of some recording equipment.  Once discovering the bad
batteries, I disposed of them.  But I didn't want to throw away the
tapes or floppies.  So I wiped them and the recording gear off with a
damp paper towel, and packed them.  (I didn't actually see any of the
powder on any of these items.)

I'd now like to use this equipment, but am wondering how thoroughly I
should clean the tapes, floppies and equipment -- in terms of how toxic
the corrosive powder from such batteries really is.  Should I consider
contacting an analytical lab and obtaining some sort of wipe that could
then be tested for NiCd?