Right at the end of a long BBC article about the 'dangers' of white asbestos (as usual no evidence is presented):
The one thing almost everyone seems to agree on is that little is known about what is actually happening in many countries that still use asbestos.
"Good epidemiology on worker cohorts still using chrysotile could be very helpful," said John Hodgson [of the UK's Health and Safety Executive].
"Whether it's ethical to suggest we should wait and see, rather than working for a ban in those countries one might debate. If countries do decide to continue using chrysotile they should have good systems of monitoring exposure and subsequent illness and mortality, so if they're wrong in their judgement this will emerge as quickly as possible."
... and if they are right in their judgement it will emerge as slowly as possible, of course.
Wednesday, 21 July 2010
"Wait and see"
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12 comments:
There's a whole industry been built up around asbestos removal, and they've run out of asbestos (brown and blue) to remove. Just you wait: when all the white asbestos is gone, it will be fibreglass. Think of what those little fibres are doing to your lungs as they seep out of the insulation in your loft and into your bedroom while you sleep....
"Whether it's ethical to suggest we should wait and see, rather than working for a ban in those countries one might debate."
That's what passes for science now? 'We don't know, and damned if we're finding out!'
Sometimes we should stick with facts than what we think so others don’t get the wrong impression. If there’s smoke and mirrors, it has to be proven before some one suggests someone dangerously anything. That’s hardly fair at all.
Actually look at evidence and data??? What a novel idea, doubt it will ever catch on.
Whole thing is a perfect illustration of the drooling incompetence of the righteous. They are actually terrified of a word - asbestos.
Nuclear and/or radioactivity are another two. Simply utter any of them and results are as seen in this article.
And if you REALLY want to get them going, mention that white asbestos and talc are both hydrated magnesium silicate.(different crystal structure of course)
Arrghh! Talc is asbestos dust? Ban it at once! Who knows who may have died from this undiscovered killer?
B, of course. Hence the stupendously high infant mortality rate.
JM, from the article: "Dr Dick Menzies has signed a letter telling the government there is an "overwhelming scientific consensus" that white asbestos use must end."
Ch, nice one. See my reply to B.
From memory only, I'm afraid, but isn't there a town in Quebec that makes its living from mining white asbestos, and isn't its air laden with the fibres, and isn't its life expectancy pretty damn high?
The regulations surrounding white asbestos give the lie to what is really happening - I have lots of farm buildings that are roofed with asbestos fibre sheets. While those sheets are up on the roof, they are (according to the regulations) perfectly safe. But if I have a cracked sheet that needs replacing and take it off the roof, the moment it reaches the ground it becomes dangerous toxic waste, which can only be disposed of at high cost by authorised disposal companies. Which is ironic because it ends up in a landfill just like any other waste once you've paid the exortionate (and it it really is extortion in the truest sense of the word) fee.
The whole thing is a ramp for the asbestos and waste disposal industry. White asbestos has been used in building products for the best part of a century. If it were anywhere near as dangerous as they purport, people would be dropping like flies. But have you ever heard of one case of mesothelioma caused by exposure to white asbestos? I live near Swindon, which is a mesothelioma town due to the GWR railway works - blue and brown asbestos was used for boiler lagging in steam engines and the like. Most of the people affected are dead now, the railway works closed nearly 25 years ago. But in the past 20 years cases have been regularly reported in the local press, and they ALL related to ex-railway workers, or were related to them (one woman got it from washing her husbands overalls for many years). Not one was caused by anything but exposure to blue or brown asbestos, and even then these were men who worked with it day in day out for years.
The idea that your white asbestos garage roof will kill you is laughable.
S, I have it on good authority (i.e. from someone in the asbestos removal industry) that you cannot release ANY fibres into the air by smashing white asbestos roofing sheets. Breathing the dust created by drilling or grinding doesn't do you any good, but this is true of any dust apart from, possibly, limestone.
D, yes, that town is called 'Asbestos'.
S, good anecdotal. This is what Richard North & Christopher Booker have been railing against for years.
B, is that true? In that case it's an even bigger scam than we suspected :-(
If they don't like asbestos, they could always try mercury.
Mark, at Cardiff University, they sealed a big shed, covered the floor with asbestos roofing sheets and drove a JCB up and down over them all day (driver in full NBC suit, natch). At the end of the day they did a standard air test for asbestos fibres and got zilch. White asbestos bears the same relationship to blue and brown asbestos as the lead in a pencil bears to the lead on a church roof.
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