I’m still in favor of asbestos. It’s an amazing material for preventing fires AS LONG AS you never disturb it. The people that were most at risk of cancers were the people involved in the mining, manufacturing, and installation of asbestos products, but once the asbestos-containing products were installed, they were almost entirely safe for the occupants of the building. You could, in theory, largely mitigate the risks to the miners, manufacturers, and installers, but that is… Well, expensive. And people have a really bad tendency to ignore health and safety warnings when they’re inconvenient. You see the same issue with quartz countertops; they’re known to cause silicosis in people that are doing the cutting unless they do wet cutting for everything, and wear PPE, but a lot of people don’t, because wet-cutting is messy and slow, and PPE is hot and uncomfortable.
There was a big movement in the late 90s to remove asbestos from old buildings; the current advice is to encapsulate it, and leave it in place.
There are plenty of things that you deal with on a daily basis that are significantly more dangerous than asbestos. And if it had been treated like the hazardous material that it is as soon as we knew it was hazardous, then it would still be used just like all the other hazardous shit we deal with daily. However, as is the usual story, companies not only hid what they knew, but outright lied about its dangers. They called it a miracle material with no downsides. And it is amazingly good at what it does, so it was put in fucking everything, much like AI is today. And so people died for profit. A lot of people.
And it is amazingly good at what it does, so it was put in fucking everything, much like AI is today. And so people died for profit. A lot of people
funny how history rhymes. I think the confluence of AI and rising fascism is going to kill a lot more people than asbestos if we don’t get our shit together. probably too late now.
I did in Chicago. And I absolutely would again, because it makes my house much less likely to burn down from e.g. an electrical fire.
I quit smoking a decade ago; my risk of lung cancer was–is–far, far higher from smoking than it ever would have been from living in a house with asbestos insulation in the walls and around pipes.
I do. My ceiling almost certainly has asbestos in it. I just don’t touch it. Also uncovered a few chunks that looked kinda asbestossy when breaking up the concrete in the garden, it was only a few chunks so I assume something containing it had been dumped there many decades ago. I just disposed of it with everything else and pretended I didn’t see anything.
It was a very dusty job in the first place so I started spraying it with water to help prevent the dust getting into the air.
I’m still in favor of asbestos. It’s an amazing material for preventing fires AS LONG AS you never disturb it. The people that were most at risk of cancers were the people involved in the mining, manufacturing, and installation of asbestos products, but once the asbestos-containing products were installed, they were almost entirely safe for the occupants of the building. You could, in theory, largely mitigate the risks to the miners, manufacturers, and installers, but that is… Well, expensive. And people have a really bad tendency to ignore health and safety warnings when they’re inconvenient. You see the same issue with quartz countertops; they’re known to cause silicosis in people that are doing the cutting unless they do wet cutting for everything, and wear PPE, but a lot of people don’t, because wet-cutting is messy and slow, and PPE is hot and uncomfortable.
There was a big movement in the late 90s to remove asbestos from old buildings; the current advice is to encapsulate it, and leave it in place.
You also have to consider removal at the end of life. Or safety risks if another country drops bombs randomly on your cities.
Fair point about removal; but if you’re being bombed, I think asbestos is going to be low on your list of worries.
So would you live in a house your whole life that’s “almost” entirely safe? I don’t think I would
There are plenty of things that you deal with on a daily basis that are significantly more dangerous than asbestos. And if it had been treated like the hazardous material that it is as soon as we knew it was hazardous, then it would still be used just like all the other hazardous shit we deal with daily. However, as is the usual story, companies not only hid what they knew, but outright lied about its dangers. They called it a miracle material with no downsides. And it is amazingly good at what it does, so it was put in fucking everything, much like AI is today. And so people died for profit. A lot of people.
Like that sandwich with “recipe created by AI” on the label?
funny how history rhymes. I think the confluence of AI and rising fascism is going to kill a lot more people than asbestos if we don’t get our shit together. probably too late now.
I did in Chicago. And I absolutely would again, because it makes my house much less likely to burn down from e.g. an electrical fire.
I quit smoking a decade ago; my risk of lung cancer was–is–far, far higher from smoking than it ever would have been from living in a house with asbestos insulation in the walls and around pipes.
Millions of people do and have. They are again almost entirely fine.
I do. My ceiling almost certainly has asbestos in it. I just don’t touch it. Also uncovered a few chunks that looked kinda asbestossy when breaking up the concrete in the garden, it was only a few chunks so I assume something containing it had been dumped there many decades ago. I just disposed of it with everything else and pretended I didn’t see anything.
It was a very dusty job in the first place so I started spraying it with water to help prevent the dust getting into the air.
Yup. It’s a pretty wondrous material, except the bit about causing cancer.
Aren’t there ways to treat the asbestos and prevent the fibers from becoming airborne and posing a serious risk?
Encapsulation, yeah. That’s usually what they do now, since encapsulation is usually cheaper, and generally less disruptive.