Hey Damascus:
There's a BIG difference in eating foods that have probably picked up some natural contaminates(necessary for good health) and not the same as ingesting chemicals(cleaning fluids), powder residue, lead fragments etc. that one finds on cleaning rods. I've loved the smell of Hoppe's since I was a kid but I've never been tempted to drink it.
I'm a life long woodworker and ALL wood including Ebony is porous to a degree or the tree it came from couldn't survive.
Wood can and will absorb liquids and even wood treated with varnish will do so to a degree.
If you're happy with your wood rods by all means use them. I can only report on what I've observed in the last 50+ years of cleaning and maintaining firearms.
The primary firearms damage due to cleaning I've noted over the years has usually resulted in a worn crown and that's from inappropriate use of a cleaning rod.
ANY rod rubbed against the crown will eventually cause wear. A contaminated (dirty) rod will make it worse.
Jim