An article written in the 1938 textbook series University Of Knowledge described asbestos as ‘a remarkable substance created by nature in one of her fanciful moods.‘ Back then it was used in just about everything including wall linings, heat insulation, boiler coverings, wall board, yarn, conveyor belts, theater soundproofing, fire-proof paper and even clothing.
Man believed he had found the answer to ‘commercial’ abundance and weaved his new product through society like a spiderweb, remaining clueless about this rock substance acting as a black widow cocooning its prey. As we now know, countless men and women have since succumbed to its cancerous side effects and buildings across the world have been abandoned or demolished because of asbestos based building materials.
Nature’s fanciful mood turned out to be a bad one and man is still paying a price for “his skill in radically transforming natural products“. Thankfully, 73 years later, we no longer worry about asbestos and have since turned our attention to wondering if cellphone use leads to brain cancer. Perhaps the people of year 2084 will have that answer.
—————————————————————————————by SG 2011
My heart sank when I came across this photo of a man wearing the asbestos death suit. If only he knew…
The warehouse where I have been filming is made of asbestos…and
loads of it was lying everywhere…! Prob got on our shoes etc…ah well…done it now…if one thing don’t get you then the other one will…
The good news might be, it seems to take decades before any negative reaction occurs in the body from asbestos. Next time you visit them, maybe you should consider wearing a surgical mask?
yr blog is not down…? I got this..k
It was down for a few hours this morning. They must have repaired the problem.
I wrote this little piece about asbestos after you mentioned that the abandoned warehouse you play in is full of it. I remembered seeing the photo of this guy in the asbestos suit and then spent two hours trying to find the page and book it was in.
You always have a way of sparking an idea within me Kristine. I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing yet.
Your post got me thinking back to my Junior year of high school when I dated a young man whose job was to remove the asbestos from buildings. I remember him saying that “it was a job, and payed the bills,” however, he always had a cough…even at his young age!! Of course, we didn’t know the damaging effects back then…I only hope he is alive today! Thank you for acknowledging the people who worked with, lived in, and were possibly harmed by this natural product.
I hope he is still alive too. I wonder if he wore a protective suit of some kind? Even back then, the dangers of dust from insulation was known. Life is a unknown road all of us are forced to drive down isn’t it?
I remember going over to my aunties house, the old farm house where my dad was born (litterally) 13 kids raised in that house…
They had an old wood stove, with an asbestos pain of “glass” on the front not sure how i knew that but remember it glowing and such warmth coming from that old wood stove….and also remember playing some some “prettty” pieces of asbestos rocks my neighbor brought home from a vacation…..
thanks for the memories Steven, your stories seem to bring them out to me!!
I love reading your response stories Ruby! It’s like dominoes. I knock the first one over. . . I am so pleased the you visit here and add your words. It makes this experience of writing a blog so much richer.
Its nice that you respond, I have made many responses to others posts and dont get a response, its like….ok, does it really matter if one takes time to check it out and make a responce, do I really fit into the scheme of things, where am I …….smile….
Big corps likes to equate “natural” with “healthy” even when they know better. By the time anyone knows the truth, the execs have made their fortune and are long gone.