And before we get too carried away and say it is all safe, we need to keep in mind that the term "lava rock" is pretty broad. Lava rock is just melted and cooled rock thrown up by volcanos. So some of the question has to involve what rock was melted and thrown out and what other stuff might/ might not be mixed into that rock. Sometimes things like sulphur are closely related to volcanoes. So I would want to do some checking before using it just on the basic idea that somebody else used it. Rocks are not all the same just as water is not all the same. Do some checking on the rock that is going in YOUR tank rather than read about what works in somebody else's tank.
Generally, I would say much is safe but I have also trekked across places and the lava rocks smelled way too strong for me to use them near my fish.