I had to reinsulate my attic a few years ago and I found about five different types of insulation up there (I have an old house) … I had to do a bunch of research on this stuff and figure out what I had … thankfully I was ok but I found this in my search online
Magic Mineral
Submitted 5 weeks ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to science_memes@mander.xyz
https://mander.xyz/pictrs/image/9c801fc5-c7f4-41e6-98c4-d3822f5973c9.jpeg
Comments
ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 5 weeks ago
ChicoSuave@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Oh my god. Blue asbestos is the worst kind, or best if mesothelioma is your thing. Every single one of the people in that picture died from pulmonary issues.
Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
My grandparents old farm had an asbestos carpet under their current carpet. I’m very very happy I was around to spot that, and for having audited a lot of abatement companies.
Wanderer@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
The first time I learnt about my asbestos I was about 12 and my mum was going off at my dad about it. This was after we just took a load of roofing off an old shed without masks or gloves.
Thinking of it. He also give me fucking tinnitus when I was like 22. Really should have fucking learnt my lesson by then :(
Honytawk@lemmy.zip 5 weeks ago
But like, why asbestos?
Why can’t they shovel sand or dirt or something?
Olhonestjim@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
To prove it was safe. They knew it wasn’t, so they changed public opinion by marketing.
“Of course it’s safe! Look how safe it is! It’s fun for the whole family! What do you think we are, monsters?”
JackFrostNCola@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Wittenoom was an asbestos mining town, it was the whole reason for the towns existence. They believed at the time that not only was asbestos safe but they would spread blue asbestos out on the ground around their houses and paths on purpose (for some reason, i forget why exactly, might have been as an insect deterrent or something).
So this wouldnt be that weird for them, like a coal mining town digging buckets of coal.
Monzcarro@feddit.uk 4 weeks ago
Our house is about 150 years old and we dug down to the dirt floor in one of the downstairs rooms. We found suspicious white bits, and had to send a sample off. Luckily it came back clear. It was unlikely anyway, as asbestos wasn’t in widespread use here in the 19th century.
However, we do have corrugated asbestos roofing on our “scullery” but it’s in one piece so can be left until we renovate that part, then disposed of safely. It’s pretty common to find it on sheds and outbuildings here.
GraniteM@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Treat your taste kindly with KENT, the cigarette with the NEW Micronite filter!
^^Micronite ^^is ^^asbestos.
umbrella@lemmy.ml 4 weeks ago
turbocancer sticks!
now with better flavour!
FoolishObserver@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Oi, Kent! Oi, Kent! Cancer’s here, some there, it’s every-fuckin’-where!!
MonkeMischief@lemmy.today 4 weeks ago
I love seeing Ted Lasso jokes in the wild. :D
42yeah@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
Is this double cancer?
zyratoxx@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
Oh oh, I’ve got one too. It’s not containing Asbestos but Thorium.
“Doramad radioactive toothpaste”
“Creates natural freshness in your mouth!”
“Special biological healing effects by radium rays. A thousand times medically prescribed and recommended.”
“What does Doramad do? Through its radioactivity, it increases the defenses of teeth and gums. The cells are charged with a new vigorous life energy, which inhibits bacteria in their destructive ability. Hence the exquisite prevention and healing effect on gum diseases. Polishes enamel to the softest shiny white. Prevents tartar approach. Good foam, new taste, pleasant, mild and refreshing. Use extensively.”
Quick disclaimer: The last two quotes can be found on Wikipedia but they are not backed up with sources.
Tehdastehdas@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Olhonestjim@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Aw fuck l, I knew I remembered that shit from childhood.
VonCesaw@lemmy.world [bot] 4 weeks ago
Something something you may be entitled to compensation
Asetru@feddit.org 4 weeks ago
Aw fuck l, I knew I remembered that shit from
childhoodThe Wizard of Oz.abbadon420@lemm.ee 4 weeks ago
Do you have cancer yet?
Rinox@feddit.it 4 weeks ago
Also known as cancer in a box
Evotech@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
They’re going to say the same about plastic
affiliate@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
they already are
chemicalprophet@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
And we keep ramping up production because… Capitalism!
flo@infosec.pub 4 weeks ago
Plastic is bout very reactive. This property makes it generally not directly harmful to organic health, but also notoriously slow to decompose, causing huge amounts of pollution. I think it’s misleading to compare it to asbestos.
Maxxie@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 weeks ago
From what I gather, asbestos is also very stable and not reactive. Asbestosis is caused by tiny fibers physically tearing your lungs.
It’s unlikely that plastic is as dangerous (we’d seen it by now) but its buildup can likewise cause some condition.
werefreeatlast@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Just waiting for 3D printing fumes and SLA resin to be under the radar.
troyunrau@lemmy.ca 5 weeks ago
I’m pretty sure we could go back to using it, with more precautions in place, better binders, etc. Hell, it’s still used in many parts of the world, and it occurs naturally all over the fucking place. But, alas, lawyers would have to stop salivating at every mention of the word.
In geoscience, we started using the word asbestoform to describe minerals with fibrous habits so we don’t get lawyers showing up to destroy all of our rock samples and turn every geoscience facility into a superfund site.
AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
I’m pretty sure we could go back to using it, with more precautions in place, better binders, etc. Hell, it’s still used in many parts
Is there a way to keep it inert when the next homeowner starts tearing down drywall and drilling holes in stuff?
SubArcticTundra@lemmy.ml 5 weeks ago
Russia and China still use it loads.
troyunrau@lemmy.ca 5 weeks ago
As with all research papers published out of China, you take their numbers with a grain of salt. They report approximately 2000 cases per year of mesothelioma, and of those, only 15% are definitively asbestos exposure related. So about 300 per year. Of those cases, over 80% are asbestos industry (improper safety measures for repeated occupational exposure).
Compared to fire related deaths prevented, it’s probably a good trade for China. Probably.
AFKBRBChocolate@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
My dad was a contractor and he had a big sheet of it in the garage that was leftover from some job. It looked kind of like a sheet of drywall, but was grey and rougher. I used to take it into the back yard with a little blow torch and and lay on it while I melted metal things. I was probably ten to twelve at the time.
It was a different time.
NikkiDimes@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
😬😬😬😬😬😬
NaevaTheRat@vegantheoryclub.org 4 weeks ago
my garage, the old fence, and a good chunk of my house is asbestos.
They’ve been standing 60 years and you wouldn’t know it.
Damn shame we can’t use the material. Proof god hates us.
nsfwchill@lemmynsfw.com 4 weeks ago
The mineral might be good but its poisonous ish. Do you want your walls to be poisonous, your roof?
SpongyAneurism@lemmy.frozeninferno.xyz 4 weeks ago
Don’t worry. Asbestos cement is not really dangerous, as long as the concrete is intact and you don’t touch it, there’s nothing to be afraid of.
It’s when it crumbles or you work on it, that you have to take care. The problem is Asbestos dust entering your lungs, where it’s very carcinogenic.
But intact walls and roof are okay.
bitcrafter@programming.dev 4 weeks ago
This is especially a concern for those of us who keep pork chops in our walls for a quick and convenient snack!
captnanonymous@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Sam_Bass@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
magic population control
stardustpathsofglory@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Next: Carbon fiber filament for 3d printers
turtlepower@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
3D printers, period. The microplastics they create are insane.
TachyonTele@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
Stupid people used asbestos. We made ourselves part plastic!
refalo@programming.dev 4 weeks ago
Except there were scientific studies done at the time that “proved” it was safe, even as a cigarette filter. Can’t really blame people for trusting that IMO.
Now I wonder what was actually so flawed about those studies.
Wanderer@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
P4ulin_Kbana@lemmy.eco.br 5 weeks ago
Could someone please explain the joke to me?
Tyfud@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Asbestos is notoriously cancer causing, dangerous, EPA damning material that many, many homes, farms, buildings, etc. in America (and a few other countries) used heavily because of the properties espoused in the advertisement above.
And many people have suffered premature deaths as a result.
Asbestos was even used in the Wizard of Oz for the snow falling on the cast.
I had Asbestos in my ceiling in a home I purchased and had to pay $12k to remediate it. They wore masks, had negative pressure ventilation suits on, had to get EPA certifications, checks, etc.
It’s brutal stuff.
psud@aussie.zone 5 weeks ago
My mother grew up with her mother using asbestos heat distributors on the stove (between the flame and the pot) and they wore out regularly. Grandma was apparently very annoyed when the product was banned
Mum died in 2021 of a cardiac cancer, caused by asbestos
ylph@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
They wore masks, had negative pressure ventilation suits on
I hope those were positive pressure suits, positive pressure helps to keep dust out of the suit. Negative pressure ventilation is used to help sick people breathe easier, like the iron lung for example.
gerbler@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
To quote Wikipedia:
It was later discovered to cause lung cancer, mesothelioma and also because of its fibrous structure; it breaks into lots of tiny little microscopic needles when agitated. Those little shards get inhaled and poke tiny holes in your lungs which causes Asbestosis (kind of like Emphysema for smokers).
psud@aussie.zone 5 weeks ago
Sometimes the little shards make it through the lungs into the blood and thence onwards to cause cancer in any part of the body* it comes to rest
*Except the most protected parts: brain and gonads
NakariLexfortaine@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
“Asbestos was first synthesized by the master magi Mesothelioma. He was looking for a way to slowly poison the local villages without easy detection, and ended up creating one of the most common robe linings found today.
Mesothelioma is remembered long after his passing, though not fondly. If you, or a loved one, has been harmed by the creations of Dark Lord Mesothelioma, Sending us today…”
scytale@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
I remember as a kid we had some kind of puck-shaped asbestos bathroom deodorizer. It was also used in urinals back in the day.
SoupBrick@yiffit.net 5 weeks ago
Yummy
deegeese@sopuli.xyz 5 weeks ago
It is a fantastically useful material, except for all the mesothelioma.
SzethFriendOfNimi@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Seriously, except for the horrific issues with the stuff, it would be an essential material for various applications.
Its resistance to fire, heat transfer, etc would do wonders for insulation and construction.
degen@midwest.social 5 weeks ago
Makes me wonder if it could be treated in some way to make it not-so-inhalable. Though maybe we have better synthetic alternatives by now.
Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
Doesn’t burn, really hard to wear out, you can just dig it out of the ground, easy to shape and repair.
Except it kills people, and it hurts the whole time they’re dying.
Agent641@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Mother Gaia does a little trolling
Anticorp@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
This is how you know the universe hates us.
ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 5 weeks ago
That and lead in paint and gasoline all worked amazingly.
HelixDab2@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
Lead in gasoline was a stop-gap solution. If I remember correctly , it was added because we didn’t have the technology at the time to refine gas sufficiently to get the octane levels necessary to prevent pre-ignition of fuel (which causes rod knock) at a reasonable cost. Tetraethyl lead effectively increased the octane level/resistance to pre-ignition. As a side benefit, the lead slightly lubricated the valves and valve seats so that they lasted for tens of thousands of miles, instead of needing to be reground every few thousand miles.
It was a stupid stop-gap though, esp. since the dangers of lead were well known by then.
Hazmatastic@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
“If you or a loved one have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, you may be entitled to compensation…”
pumpkinseedoil@mander.xyz 5 weeks ago
As long as it doesn’t break down it’s awesome