4 ms·

Just to point out that for decades there has been asbestos flying around in the air many of us breathe, yet asbestos-related diseases not related to habitual ex

Just to point out that for decades there has been asbestos flying around in the air many of us breathe, yet asbestos-related diseases not related to habitual exposure are incredibly rare.

nothrabannosir 8y ago
How do we know that? Isn’t it just as likely to cause an amortised increase in diseases world wide , which is hard to measure, let alone attribute? I’m not saying “we can’t measure it therefore it’s harmful”, but the opposite can’t be true by default, either.
- growlist 8y ago
  I really don't think I'm saying anything controversial here: 'Most people who develop asbestos-related diseases have worked on jobs where they frequently breathed in large amounts of asbestos fibres.' 'A very small number of asbestos-related disease cases occur each year in people who have not worked with asbestos products.' http://www.health.gov.au/internet/publications/publishing.nsf/Content/asbestos-toc~asbestos-health~asbestos-risk-diseases http://www.health.gov.au/internet/publications/publishing.ns...
flarg 8y ago
Add smoke from wood fires, pollen and microbes from flora, Cross infection from living in close proximity to livestock, and balance that all out against better hygiene standards, better nutrition etc. Micro plastics don't seem like a great thing, but we're probably going to be OK with it in the environment.
- redisman 8y ago
  Plastic is a lot more ubiquitous and less biodegradable though
spodek 8y ago
We passed strict laws to protect us from it. I, for one, support following that precedent by passing strict laws limiting plastic.
- growlist 8y ago
  And we mandate by law in more developed nations that workers exposed to dust of whatever kind use PPE. Your point is a bit of a red herring when applied to asbestos really, because there is still plenty of atmospheric asbestos from historical sources blowing around (Wittenoom) and indeed being newly produced (Asbest, Russia). Don't get me wrong though, I completely agree that it's desirable to limit it if economically viable but I'm not about to start worrying my little head about it when tomorrow there will be another civilisation-threatening environmental/health/economic/social problem to worry about, and the day after, and the day after that, apparently ad infinitum. I'm sick of the negativity. The modern world isn't perfect but is preferable to the alternative. We need to start thinking of solutions.

Just to point out that for decades there has been asbestos flying around in the air many of us breathe, yet asbestos-related diseases not related to habitual exposure are incredibly rare.

nothrabannosir 8y ago

How do we know that? Isn’t it just as likely to cause an amortised increase in diseases world wide , which is hard to measure, let alone attribute? I’m not saying “we can’t measure it therefore it’s harmful”, but the opposite can’t be true by default, either.

growlist 8y ago
I really don't think I'm saying anything controversial here: 'Most people who develop asbestos-related diseases have worked on jobs where they frequently breathed in large amounts of asbestos fibres.' 'A very small number of asbestos-related disease cases occur each year in people who have not worked with asbestos products.' http://www.health.gov.au/internet/publications/publishing.nsf/Content/asbestos-toc~asbestos-health~asbestos-risk-diseases http://www.health.gov.au/internet/publications/publishing.ns...

flarg 8y ago

Add smoke from wood fires, pollen and microbes from flora, Cross infection from living in close proximity to livestock, and balance that all out against better hygiene standards, better nutrition etc. Micro plastics don't seem like a great thing, but we're probably going to be OK with it in the environment.

redisman 8y ago
Plastic is a lot more ubiquitous and less biodegradable though

spodek 8y ago

We passed strict laws to protect us from it. I, for one, support following that precedent by passing strict laws limiting plastic.

growlist 8y ago
And we mandate by law in more developed nations that workers exposed to dust of whatever kind use PPE. Your point is a bit of a red herring when applied to asbestos really, because there is still plenty of atmospheric asbestos from historical sources blowing around (Wittenoom) and indeed being newly produced (Asbest, Russia). Don't get me wrong though, I completely agree that it's desirable to limit it if economically viable but I'm not about to start worrying my little head about it when tomorrow there will be another civilisation-threatening environmental/health/economic/social problem to worry about, and the day after, and the day after that, apparently ad infinitum. I'm sick of the negativity. The modern world isn't perfect but is preferable to the alternative. We need to start thinking of solutions.