4 ms·

I hope they dont cause any weird diseases.. I'm just thinking of asbestos-concrete.. It was amazing at the time, far greater tensile strength and fire safety.

jghn 8y ago
And also completely not dangerous, yet it received the banhammer
- UpshotKnothole 8y ago
  I wonder what the impact of the collapse of the twin towers would have been if the concrete used had contained a significant fraction of aesbestos?
- devwastaken 8y ago
  In what manner is the risk eliminated?
  - jghn 8y ago
    Because of the cement the asbestos is not friable and thus doesn't pose a mesothelioma risk. Sure, it'd not be great to do lines of ground up asbestos fiber cement, but that has a lot more to do with it not being a good idea to do lines of cement in general and nothing about the asbestos side.
    - devwastaken 8y ago
      cement degrades, though, and drilling into cement is a common thing. afaik any asbestos in products is toxic if it can enter the air. What about the cement mix before water itself?
    - nate_meurer 8y ago
      This comment is so naive and ignorant, it hurts. I'm sorry to be so harsh, really, but I hear this bullshit depressingly often, and ignorance like this has really contributed to an epidemic of asbestos contamination that is still very much with us. Cement is a temporary matrix. Concrete and other cementitious structures are constantly weathering, degrading, and being demolished all around us. Right in my own back yard a 30-year old concrete patio is spalling, the flakes slowly turning to fine dust with every foot fall. Dust which is then blown about my yard and tracked into my house. Do you imagine that dust would remain "completely not dangerous" if it contained asbestos? And apparently you've never worked with concrete or grout, because otherwise you'd have witnessed the unavoidable clouds of cement dust that erupt any time you open a bag, pour, shovel, or even breathe on dry mix. > it'd not be great to do lines of ground up asbestos fiber cement, but that has a lot more to do with it not being a good idea to do lines of cement in general and nothing about the asbestos side. Any asbestos in ground-up fiber-bearing cement would be, by definition, friable. That's what the word means. Long time ago I'd hear people say the same thing about asbestos cement siding -- as though the cement will encase the asbestos for all eternity. As though no one ever re-sides their house, or as if re-siding never involves breaking or disturbing the old siding. The abject stupidity of such assumptions is immediately apparent the moment you break a piece of siding, either during installaion or removal, and you see a puff of asbestos and cement dust spring into the air. Again, I'm sorry for speaking harshly, but asbestos kills, and people like you who spread the "asbestos is safe when properly applied" bullshit have made it that much harder for us to get rid of the stuff.
- Tharkun 8y ago
  Ate you saying asbestos bound in cement is not dangerous? That's simply not true. Things like wind erosion, wear and tear, accidental breakage, can cause the fibres to escape the cement. This seemingly simple problem makes it very difficult to safely demolish buildings that were built in the golden age of asbestos. Asbestos battles are still being fought in Belgian courts, because workers who produced/installed/removed it got sick.
kjeetgill 8y ago
It's already used in food: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcium_silicate#Use https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcium_silicate#Use
- appleflaxen 8y ago
  even though you can eat it without risk, nanoparticles can be aerosolized, and cause injury to the lung that is unique to that route of administration. think of how different it is if you ingest vs. topically apply alcohol. This is the same issue: you can't necessarily extrapolate toxicity with one route to toxicity with another.

jghn 8y ago

And also completely not dangerous, yet it received the banhammer

UpshotKnothole 8y ago
I wonder what the impact of the collapse of the twin towers would have been if the concrete used had contained a significant fraction of aesbestos?
devwastaken 8y ago
In what manner is the risk eliminated?
- jghn 8y ago
  Because of the cement the asbestos is not friable and thus doesn't pose a mesothelioma risk. Sure, it'd not be great to do lines of ground up asbestos fiber cement, but that has a lot more to do with it not being a good idea to do lines of cement in general and nothing about the asbestos side.
  - devwastaken 8y ago
    cement degrades, though, and drilling into cement is a common thing. afaik any asbestos in products is toxic if it can enter the air. What about the cement mix before water itself?
  - nate_meurer 8y ago
    This comment is so naive and ignorant, it hurts. I'm sorry to be so harsh, really, but I hear this bullshit depressingly often, and ignorance like this has really contributed to an epidemic of asbestos contamination that is still very much with us. Cement is a temporary matrix. Concrete and other cementitious structures are constantly weathering, degrading, and being demolished all around us. Right in my own back yard a 30-year old concrete patio is spalling, the flakes slowly turning to fine dust with every foot fall. Dust which is then blown about my yard and tracked into my house. Do you imagine that dust would remain "completely not dangerous" if it contained asbestos? And apparently you've never worked with concrete or grout, because otherwise you'd have witnessed the unavoidable clouds of cement dust that erupt any time you open a bag, pour, shovel, or even breathe on dry mix. > it'd not be great to do lines of ground up asbestos fiber cement, but that has a lot more to do with it not being a good idea to do lines of cement in general and nothing about the asbestos side. Any asbestos in ground-up fiber-bearing cement would be, by definition, friable. That's what the word means. Long time ago I'd hear people say the same thing about asbestos cement siding -- as though the cement will encase the asbestos for all eternity. As though no one ever re-sides their house, or as if re-siding never involves breaking or disturbing the old siding. The abject stupidity of such assumptions is immediately apparent the moment you break a piece of siding, either during installaion or removal, and you see a puff of asbestos and cement dust spring into the air. Again, I'm sorry for speaking harshly, but asbestos kills, and people like you who spread the "asbestos is safe when properly applied" bullshit have made it that much harder for us to get rid of the stuff.
Tharkun 8y ago
Ate you saying asbestos bound in cement is not dangerous? That's simply not true. Things like wind erosion, wear and tear, accidental breakage, can cause the fibres to escape the cement. This seemingly simple problem makes it very difficult to safely demolish buildings that were built in the golden age of asbestos. Asbestos battles are still being fought in Belgian courts, because workers who produced/installed/removed it got sick.

kjeetgill 8y ago

It's already used in food: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcium_silicate#Use https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcium_silicate#Use

appleflaxen 8y ago
even though you can eat it without risk, nanoparticles can be aerosolized, and cause injury to the lung that is unique to that route of administration. think of how different it is if you ingest vs. topically apply alcohol. This is the same issue: you can't necessarily extrapolate toxicity with one route to toxicity with another.