Asbestos snowflakes on the tongue

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amanitamusc
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Asbestos snowflakes on the tongue

Post by amanitamusc »

In the spring where i lived and went to grade school during recess the asbestos
company next to the school opened the doors wide and on windy days it was like
a steady snow storm.
Some of the kids would catch the little snowflakes with little smiling upturned faces.
I new this was not snow and was happy to just breath the smaller particles.
Those days were magical with corporal punishment in full swing. :twisted:
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Kim O'Hara
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Re: Asbestos snowflakes on the tongue

Post by Kim O'Hara »

Same-same but different here.
We all lived in asbestos houses (they called it fibro-cement sheeting, but yep, it was asbestos. We all played with the broken bits and no-one worried about it.
Our parents all smoked, and boys all tried it as soon as they could.There was a regular group that met behind the shelter sheds at school to share cigarettes they had pinched from home.

Happy days. Short lives, some of them.

:thinking:
Kim
shaunc
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Re: Asbestos snowflakes on the tongue

Post by shaunc »

I still live in a fibro house. As you said Kim, they're safe unless drilled or broken.
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Kim O'Hara
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Re: Asbestos snowflakes on the tongue

Post by Kim O'Hara »

shaunc wrote: Fri Apr 13, 2018 5:42 am I still live in a fibro house.
Mine is weatherboard (clapboard to our American friends, I believe) but most of the lining is fibro.
shaunc wrote: Fri Apr 13, 2018 5:42 am As you said Kim, they're safe unless drilled or broken.
I didn't say it here, actually, but it's true enough and I have often said it elsewhere.

:coffee:
Kim
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Queequeg
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Re: Asbestos snowflakes on the tongue

Post by Queequeg »

Almost every house built before the 70s in the US has asbestos - pipe insulation and shingles being the most common. The most "dangerous" stuff tends to be the pipe insulation that dries out and flakes into dust (they call it friable). My parents house had this. My house had this. I was really worried about it and spent a lot of time researching it.

Its not clear how much exposure leads to cancer.

Clearly, asbestos snow flakes would raise concerns. :shock: Breathing it in on the regular, through a thirty year career is probably not good. Incidental exposure? Its not clear.

Seems to me, and no one will come out and say it these days, but the reaction to asbestos might be overblown. It needs to be handled carefully, but the way its referred to, you'd think that passing contact will lead to cancer. You know who seems to have benefited the most from the asbestos panic? Plaintiff's lawyers and asbestos removal firms.
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Malcolm
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Re: Asbestos snowflakes on the tongue

Post by Malcolm »

Queequeg wrote: Fri Apr 13, 2018 5:12 pm

Its not clear how much exposure leads to cancer.

Parts per million.
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Mantrik
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Re: Asbestos snowflakes on the tongue

Post by Mantrik »

Malcolm wrote: Fri Apr 13, 2018 5:38 pm
Queequeg wrote: Fri Apr 13, 2018 5:12 pm

Its not clear how much exposure leads to cancer.

Parts per million.
I spent many months stripping blue and white asbestos from inside huge industrial boilers and pipework in my twenties, 40 years ago, for big money, over 70 hours a week.
The places were also full of soot we had to shovel. Our boiler suits rotted into holes in a few days. We were given gauze pads as breathing protection.....they also went black and rotted and our mouths were black with soot. My lungs may well be the same. I've already had one really bad x-ray .'shadow'.

So, to the point:
I can assure you that the type of asbestos is at least as important as the 'dosage'. I was told as little as 100 hours unprotected exposure to the stuff I worked with could lead to mesothelioma. Other types just need wetting down and you can rip them down and dispose of them without much risk at all.
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Virgo
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Re: Asbestos snowflakes on the tongue

Post by Virgo »

The reason it is outlawed is that it only takes a single fiber.

Kevin
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