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When Asbestos Was a Gift Fit for a King

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Re: When Asbestos Was a Gift Fit for a King

#71

Post by rsynnott »

throwaway0a5e wrote: post #45
aresant wrote: post #6

Build on this even in 1942, just prior to the discovery of the link to Mesothelioma, we were busily figuring out every use case we could for asbestos - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tC8L8ooBSgQ&t=1m8s Despite the recognition of Mesothelioma in the early 1900s it took almost 40 years to associate the disease with Asbestos. My understanding is that this was due to the 10 - 40 year average post exposure timeline for Me…

If asbestos was discovered today we'd likely use the hell out of it because we'd know it causes cancer ahead of time and we'd take precautions (like not building it into things likely to release dust) the same way we do with all sorts of crazy molecules that get used in modern chemicals. It would be in your Ove Glove, not in your floor tiles. Tons of people wouldn't get cancer (because we wouldn't release the dust ev…

> It would be in your Ove Glove, not in your floor tiles

Would people buy oven gloves that had to be treated as hazardous waste? You’d likely have to build cost of eventual disposal into the sale price, a la WEEE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_Electrical_and_Electroni...

> Same goes for lead paint

Where would you see this being used?

Re: When Asbestos Was a Gift Fit for a King

#72

Post by userbinator »

shadowprofile77 wrote: post #62
reyoz wrote: post #49

For a short backstory on Wittenoom, an former asbestos mining town in remote Western Australia see this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3LDoI7H1Gc I once worked with an environmental engineer who had a grandfather that worked at Wittenoom. He passed away due to mesothelioma, but her father who grew up there has not been affected, which is quite amazing given the circumstances. I have seen footage from Wittenoo…

From what I know and was also told by several doctors when a family member was dying of mesothelioma in his early 70's (despite never having worked more than casually a few times around asbestos in his much younger years), the illness is strongly suspected of being tied to a genetic predisposition that only affects a certain small percentage of people. If one has this genetic disposition, it's apparently possible tha…

Smoking also greatly increases the chances: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3749214/

Re: When Asbestos Was a Gift Fit for a King

#73

Post by pimlottc »

Gibbon1 wrote: post #59
flancian wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sounded interesting so I looked it up; it seems it might be a popular misconception? > The term asbestos is traceable to Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder's manuscript Natural History and his use of the term asbestinon, meaning "unquenchable". While Pliny or his nephew Pliny the Younger is popularly credited with recognising the detrimental effects of asbestos on human beings, examination of the primary sources r…

De re Metallica 1500's on the other hand mentions dangers to workers and environmental harm that mining caused. I've also seen references to the Romans banning lead smelting in Italy. Better to force slaves to do that work at the fringes of the empire than give up productive farmland close to Rome.

> De re Metallica 1500's on the other hand

Er, auto-correct error?

Re: When Asbestos Was a Gift Fit for a King

#75

Post by wolfgang42 »

pimlottc wrote: post #73
Gibbon1 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

De re Metallica 1500's on the other hand mentions dangers to workers and environmental harm that mining caused. I've also seen references to the Romans banning lead smelting in Italy. Better to force slaves to do that work at the fringes of the empire than give up productive farmland close to Rome.

> De re Metallica 1500's on the other hand Er, auto-correct error?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_re_metallica was published in 1556, but there do seem to be words missing from that sentence somewhere.

Re: When Asbestos Was a Gift Fit for a King

#76

Post by mannykannot »

wolfgang42 wrote: post #75
pimlottc wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> De re Metallica 1500's on the other hand Er, auto-correct error?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_re_metallica was published in 1556, but there do seem to be words missing from that sentence somewhere.

Or punctuation:

De re Metallica (1500s), on the other hand, mentions [the] dangers to workers and environmental harm that mining caused.

Re: When Asbestos Was a Gift Fit for a King

#77

Post by [deleted] »

pimlottc wrote: post #73
Gibbon1 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

De re Metallica 1500's on the other hand mentions dangers to workers and environmental harm that mining caused. I've also seen references to the Romans banning lead smelting in Italy. Better to force slaves to do that work at the fringes of the empire than give up productive farmland close to Rome.

> De re Metallica 1500's on the other hand Er, auto-correct error?

[deleted]

Re: When Asbestos Was a Gift Fit for a King

#78

Post by meowface »

shadowprofile77 wrote: post #62
reyoz wrote: post #49

For a short backstory on Wittenoom, an former asbestos mining town in remote Western Australia see this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3LDoI7H1Gc I once worked with an environmental engineer who had a grandfather that worked at Wittenoom. He passed away due to mesothelioma, but her father who grew up there has not been affected, which is quite amazing given the circumstances. I have seen footage from Wittenoo…

From what I know and was also told by several doctors when a family member was dying of mesothelioma in his early 70's (despite never having worked more than casually a few times around asbestos in his much younger years), the illness is strongly suspected of being tied to a genetic predisposition that only affects a certain small percentage of people. If one has this genetic disposition, it's apparently possible tha…

What is the mechanism of action there? Do some people's lungs gradually clear away the asbestos particles more effectively than others'?

Re: When Asbestos Was a Gift Fit for a King

#79

Post by jiggawatts »

“Trump is on our side,” said Vladimir V. Kochelayev, chairman of the board of Uralasbest, one of the world’s few remaining producers of asbestos, citing what he said were reports that the Trump administration was easing restrictions on asbestos use.

Remember the good old times, before the thousand deaths per day, when the President of the United States stepped in front of the television cameras and went on and on about the virtues of Asbestos to help out a struggling Russian town? Fun times, fun times...

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-as...

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/07/world/europe/asbestos-rus...

Re: When Asbestos Was a Gift Fit for a King

#80

Post by oh_sigh »

Gibbon1 wrote: post #53
reyoz wrote: post #49

For a short backstory on Wittenoom, an former asbestos mining town in remote Western Australia see this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3LDoI7H1Gc I once worked with an environmental engineer who had a grandfather that worked at Wittenoom. He passed away due to mesothelioma, but her father who grew up there has not been affected, which is quite amazing given the circumstances. I have seen footage from Wittenoo…

> seems to be a bit like Russian roulette One of my dads friends had a business installing asbestos siding in the 1960's. He's in his 80's and seems fine. On the other hand his wife died of mesothelioma 20 years ago.

I wonder if she got it from doing his laundry all the time.
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