Re: Asbestos

Richard Marsden (marsden@digicon-egr.co.uk)
Wed, 28 Aug 96 9:01:25 BST

>
> In Message Tue, 27 Aug 1996 02:17:56 -0700,
> marsden@digicon-egr.co.uk (Richard Marsden) writes:
> >
> >Things should be kept in perspective though.
> >(cf. asbestos - in the US there is a disproportionate fear of asbestos)
> >
> >Richard
> Having watched someone slowly die of asbestosis, I think that
> "disproportionate fear" is a healthy one. It truely is a terrible way to go.
> John Phillips Email: phillips@library.ucsf.edu
> Information Services
> UCSF Health Sciences Library Rm 202
> San Francisco, CA 94143-0840
> Ph:(415) 476-8383 FAX:(415) 476-7940

Asbestos can be nasty stuff - sure. And the sort of factory conditions seen
in the 50s should, of course, be banned.
But, I can take my disproportionate fear examples from the SF area:

1.) Schools were closed because fibres were found in the schools. They
forgot to test the air outside - where there were more fibres.
2.) Chrysotile asbestos is common along that bit of coast. Why close the
Golden Gate Bridge and have a huge health scare when a truck spills the stuff,
yet ignore the outcrops in the vicinity?

Asbestos in macroscopic form *should* be treated with respect, but its no
excuse to ignore basic common sense too.

Richard