Posted on 05/24/2023 6:55:03 AM PDT by LouAvul
I guess it's still around. I worked at a filling station in the early 60s and they did a lot of brake work. I didn't realize brakes were made with asbestos.
I worked for pop's construction company and we did quite a bit of demolition. I knew there was some insulation with asbestos, but it was also in drywall and joint compound.
And it's still around. I didn't realize that. It wasn't outlawed till the late 70s/1980 and lots of buildings are still standing with asbestos building materials. Apparently, as long as it's encapsulated it's not an issue.
From my googlefoo, the latency period is 20 years to 60 years, with the average being 40 years. The demographic affect (mostly) are those who worked in the industry. Mining the material, manufacture of insulation, brakes, etc. And ~20% of those workers were adversely affected.
"Prolonged exposure" is a term researchers use.
It's sort of like sunshine in that, when baby boomers were young, we didn't even think about the potential for harm.
It is a great material, but yes, nasty for humans, for sure. Lost an electrician uncle to it (probably working new construction back then).
This thread needs some ad placement. It would make $$$
I remember reading somewhere, long ago, that asbestos exposure wasn’t really that harmful unless you also smoked. Somehow the combination of the two is really deadly.
There was a case where someone was exposed for half a day to asbestos dust and developed lung cancer.
Same thing for people exposed to the dust in NYC on 9/11.
My grandparents’ house had asbestos siding ... very low maintenance.
My parents’ basement still has asbestos tile. My sister bought the house. Leave it alone, and it shouldn’t be a problem.
I don’t forget asbestos because I heard ads from asbestos attorneys for years. Now they are focusing on Camp LeJeune. In a few years it will be someone else who will pay a smidgen of Pfizer’s and Moderna’s damage.
Yes it will be around for a long long long time.
Generally unless it’s in airborne form, or could become airborne your best course of action is to leave it be. IE asbestos siding etc.. just cover it up with vinyl siding when it wears out.. when you disturb it, go to remove it it breaks and crumbles and introduces airborne particles that can then get into your lungs leading to cancer years later.
It was in everything for a long long time… whenever you see them demolish an old building, you are looking at a risk event for everyone who lives close by
Asbestos was so effective it was used in the World Trade towers. But not to the top. I’ve heard it was prohibited some 20 or floors below the top. Some think the substitute envirowackos forced, contributed to the collapse of the towers since the planes hit the non-asbestos floors. Steel was more exposed to the fire due to asbestos not used up there.
These scenarios are when respirators make all the difference.
I’m still looking for the mercury in fish?
“Asbestos was so effective it was used in the World Trade towers. But not to the top. I’ve heard it was prohibited some 20 or floors below the top. Some think the substitute envirowackos forced, contributed to the collapse of the towers since the planes hit the non-asbestos floors. Steel was more exposed to the fire due to asbestos not used up there.”
Yep, heard the same. Should have let them finish the job. We don’t for sure of the towers would have survived, but they would have at least have had a chance.
“An estimated 900,000 automobile mechanics have experienced asbestos exposure from brake and clutch work, typically through ‘blowing out’ brakes with an air hose during cleaning and beveling surfaces during a repair.”
https://www.asbestos.com/occupations/auto-mechanics/
Do get screened periodically. Not like colonoscopy, just a low dose x ray. You will be in and out in minutes. Lung cancer is one of the most preventable of all cancers since it typically takes years to develop and shows up on scans very early. Rush would still be alive if he got screened.
When I was at Camp Lejeune in the 70s, asbestos was used everywhere. The barracks and other buildings all had steam heat, radiators etc, from a centrally located boiler, and there were pipes running all over the base that were insulated with asbestos..............
I worked in the environmental consulting business for a number of years. Did a lot of training on Asbestos. It was great stuff, but did a lot of damage if inhaled. The symbiotic effect of smoking made it worse. The lungs could clear some of the fibers, but if you smoked you killed off you cilia which were the lungs cleaning apparatus. Which made it less likely any of the Asbestos particles would be expelled.
There are OSHA and EPA regulations that date back to the early 1970s, about 50 years ago.
Most people harmed by asbestos would now be at least 68 years of age.
I worked on some old asbestos tile in a church. There was no money to replace it. I stripped it, keeping it wet all the time. Then I threw several coats of sealer on it followed by several coats of acrylic floor wax. When over time it got dull looking, I scrubbed the surface of the wax with a 175-rpm rotary floor machine and threw several more coats of wax on top of it. All the asbestos was super well sealed under all that sealer and wax.
It shined so beautifully People would enter the fellowship hall soon after the waxing and touch it to see if the wax was still wet. It wasn’t. It just looked wet. Asbestos tile is only dangerous if it is disturbed by scrubbing or cutting or scuffing of shoes when it is dry and not sealed.
This is notable for a 1968 image of an airplane flying into the tower:
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