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I feel like if asbestos was banned today there'd be a huge pro-asbestos movement

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Submitted ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨philz@lemmy.world⁩ to ⁨showerthoughts@lemmy.world⁩

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  • Duamerthrax@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Old car guys are still bitter over unleaded gas. Some will drive to airports to buy the leaded stuff.

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    • sxan@midwest.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Old car drivers drive cars that need additives in the gas. The lead was a lubricant, and old engines ran better, and longer, on leaded gas.

      They didn’t just add lead because it made the gas prettier; there was a reason. I would suppose that today there are other additives that can reproduce the lubricating effects for those old cars, but old car hobbyists are niche and you’re not going to find those products at Walmart, whereas there’s always a local airport somewhere nearby.

      I’m not defending leaded gas, but I think vintage car enthusiasts do it not because they’re being stupididly misinformed and contrarian, but because they’re trying to keep their engines running well.

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      • KingThrillgore@lemmy.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        The reason was TEL stopped engine pinging.

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      • sugarfoot00@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Thomas Midgley Jr is the same guy that invented leaded gas and also invented freon (chlorofluorocarbons). Imagine being the architect of not one but two of the greatest environmental calamities of the industrial age.

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      • HelixDab2@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        The lead was a lubricant, and old engines ran better, and longer, on leaded gas.

        There were two issues. First, tetraethyl lead increased the effective octane level. That, in turn, reduced the probability of pre-ignition, e.g., the fuel-air mixture igniting before the compression cycle was completed. Higher octane allows for higher compression, which is more efficient. The other issue was the valves specifically; the lead provided a ‘cushion’ between the valves and the valve seats, which minimized valve wear.

        The octane issue is easily solved by both better refining or by adding alcohol. It was known that you could add alcohol to gas to improve octane rating even when TEL was first added, but TEL could be patented, and alcohol couldn’t. The valve issue has largely been solved by better metallurgy and manufacturing.

        The one are where it hasn’t been solved is small aircraft. Some small planes still use leaded gas, and it’s mostly for the octane boost. TEL can give them a better octane rating than alcohol or better refinement can, which allows them to operate at much high compression. Take that away, and the engines are too underpowered to keep the plane in the air. Over 150,000 small airplanes still use leaded AvGas; thankfully, newer turboprop planes and all jet planes mostly use Jet A or Jet B fuel, which is closer to kerosene.

        In theory, I think that you could convert older cars to run on unleaded fuels, but you would need new parts rather than OEM.

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      • Duamerthrax@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        I ones I know are putting it in new generators.

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  • CanadianCorhen@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    In Defense of Asbestos: The Mineral We Love to Hate

    Look, everyone’s got their vices. Some people sip whiskey to “relax,” others puff cigars to feel “distinguished.” But heaven forbid you mention asbestos—suddenly, you’re the villain in a 1980s PSA.

    But let’s be honest: asbestos walked so modern insulation could run. Before we had fancy synthetic fireproofing and high-tech soundproofing, asbestos was out here doing it all. Fire-resistant? Check. Insulating? Absolutely. Durable? Like the cockroach of minerals—won’t burn, won’t break, just vibes.

    “Oh, but it causes health problems,” they say, as they light their third cigarette of the day and sip their third oat milk IPA. Everything causes health problems if you inhale it long enough. Ever tried breathing in glitter? Death trap.

    And what happened to personal responsibility? You don’t see us eating asbestos sandwiches. We just want a little cozy, non-flammable nostalgia in our ceilings. It’s not like we’re snorting the stuff—though, let’s be real, if someone did that in the 70s, it was probably the same guy who invented disco.

    Let’s stop pretending asbestos was some mustachio-twirling villain and start recognizing it for what it was: the gritty, misunderstood hero of 20th century construction. Sure, it had a dark side—but so did lead paint, and we don’t see that getting canceled on social media.

    So here’s to asbestos: May your fibers be forever airborne in the halls of history, and your reputation just slightly less shredded than it deserves.

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    • bane_killgrind@slrpnk.net ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Did you llm this

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      • CanadianCorhen@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        yea, there is a disclaimer at the top.

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    • Irelephant@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      This is oddly convincing.

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  • TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    LOL. Imagine seeing asbestos truthers coughing on their deathbed swearing that it’s completely harmless and that there’s a global conspiracy against it.

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    • octopus_ink@slrpnk.net ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I mean, we can probably just find/replace asbestos for Covid - it will be the same people making the same crazy claim.

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      • TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Many crazy ideas seem to go hand in hand. If you’re into flat earth nonsense, there’s a pretty good chance you also oppose vaccines, drink colloidal silver and believe in intergalactic lizards.

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    • Worx@lemmynsfw.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      They are probably coughing because of the cigarettes car exhaust fumes air pollution goddamn libs

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  • limelight79@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I’m a little surprised Trump hasn’t signed the “Asbestos Fibers Are Our Friends” Executive Order.

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  • hungryphrog@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Image

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  • Kolanaki@pawb.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    It actually was just recently (a year ago) banned fully in the US. Before that, it was just prohibited to be used in new construction.

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    • TON618@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      What do you mean with fully banned? Pretty sure here in Europe there are also still plenty of cases where you’re not forced to remove asbestos, like old plumbing that’s embedded in closed shafts.

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      • subarctictundra@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Well it can’t be sold anymore, but if you have it in your house then it’s not illegal in any way

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  • Blackmist@feddit.uk ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    We DoN’t NeEd VaCcInEs We’Ve GoT aSbEsToS!

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  • Heikki@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Simpson’s did it!

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  • Opinionhaver@feddit.uk ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    The use of it in the US was banned only last year and I’m not aware of there having been such movement.

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    • uienia@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Donald Trump has already called asbestos “100% safe”. His cultist followers will eagerly become pro-asbestos if he tells them to. And he will tell them to if someone pays him enough to tell them so.

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      • SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        They are already lead infested and thus dumb enough to believe anything Cheeto Benito says.

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  • mojofrododojo@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    lead too.

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    • Phoenicianpirate@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      It is actually astonishing it took so long for lead to be banned in the US. Even Ben Franklin railed against the use of lead in daily life and he was someone who lived and died in the 18th century.

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      • mojofrododojo@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Even Ben Franklin railed against the use of lead in daily life

        whoa, TIL. 1786 NO LESS

        environmentaleducation.com/…/Ben Franklin Letter …

        TY!

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  • VerbFlow@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Back when asbestos was banned, everyone trusted the government. Nobody trusts the government anymore because of its constant foreign wars, corrupt candidates, and human rights abuses. We cannot do things like mandate vaccines and ban cars if the very government that would enforce that ban is this tyrannical and shitty.

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    • mogranja@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Also, there are people who make money (or even just fake internet points) off of telling gullible people the opposite is true.

      They should be held accountable for what they claim online.

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      • mogranja@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        And I mean someone who claims cigarettes don’t cause cancer are financially responsible if anyone who smokes a cigarette gets cancer. No need to prove they watched the channel or started smoking after seeing their video.

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  • itsgroundhogdayagain@lemmy.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I need my full lead gasoline

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  • vrojak@feddit.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I’m SO glad I live in a city with a decently functioning tram system. If something like that was proposed today, there’d be thousands of people complaining about being forced out of their cars or the city losing its charm or whatever nonsense.

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    • OsrsNeedsF2P@lemmy.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Texas just defunded their rail project

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  • UncleGrandPa@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Of course he is for it.

    It will make him money

    And none of the thousands who will get sick and or die

    Are people he knows personally

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  • eric5949@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Would be? My guy there is lol, just not huge.

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  • frezik@midwest.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Implication is that there are things about as bad as asbestos that should be banned, but aren’t.

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    • Taleya@aussie.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Cigarette, sir?

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  • 467265654C75696769@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Because Russia, the number one exporter of asbestoes and the number one disinformation capital of the world.

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    • elrecoal19_1@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Maybe not the number one asbestoes exporter, but that wouldn’t stop them from spreading misinformation if it means aweakening the rest of us.

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  • Dozzi92@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I love two towns over from Manville, which was the asbestos capital of America, and I can unequivocally say those morons would vote to bring asbestos back if they could.

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  • MonkCanatella@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    As long as it made someone money or kept them from losing it, yes there would be

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  • inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    In America sure.

    Rest of the world, it would be very much limited to a very, very small minority that would be lost to cancer.

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    • shottymcb@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      UK didn’t ban asbestos till 2000, 25 years after we knew it was mega cancer.

      1993 for Germany

      1997 for France

      1992 for Italy

      2002 for Spain

      China still hasn’t banned asbestos.

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  • Ghostwurm@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    [deleted]
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    • mko@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Something with trans in there? That should not even come up in his mind.

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    • hungryphrog@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      TRANSfats?!??!!!?? The wokes are trying to force us to be trans by putting ‘transfats’ in our food!!

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    • 3dmvr@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      they didnt go away just lowered amount for servings, an annoying amount of food still has them, like costco dogs

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  • cobwoms@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    i could see the same being dead about leaded gasoline

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  • HootinNHollerin@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Most asbestos is made in Russia currently so definitely

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  • UncleGrandPa@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I’m surprised there isn’t a “pro poison in food” If only for those who feel

    “No one tells ME what to do!”

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    • sugarfoot00@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I humbly direct you towards the raw milk crowd

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      • PolarisFx@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        A friend of a friend is a dairy farmer, and we were at his place and I was introduced to raw milk for the first time, and I did not enjoy the experience, nor do I understand people who seek it out.

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    • Stegget@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      As if the processed food industry doesn’t already lobby Congress spendinf millions annually.

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  • LovableSidekick@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    'Bestos saved my buddy’s life in 'Nam, man.

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  • madame_gaymes@programming.dev ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    We should just let them bring all these things back, make the southeast US a mecca for dinks that want raw milk, lead paint, asbestos insulation, and derailed trains pumping vinyl chloride into a biodome.

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  • cheese_greater@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Whats ruzzia’s position on asbestos?

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  • KingThrillgore@lemmy.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    They would huff that shit claiming its so great.

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  • Paddy66@lemmy.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Naomi Klein’s book ‘Doppelganger’ is good on this topic…

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