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In California there's a large asbestos deposit near the town of Coalinga. Two of the mines were cleaned up under the EPA "superfund". The surrounding area als

In California there's a large asbestos deposit near the town of Coalinga. Two of the mines were cleaned up under the EPA "superfund". The surrounding area also contains a toxic mercury mine called New Idria. The whole region is remote and favored by hunters, campers, and motorcyclists. The funny thing about this site is how polarizing it is. The EPA claims victory in cleaning up the mines, but geologists point out that tectonic activity and erosion liberate and transport millions of cubic yards of asbestos. The BLM says the area is closed, but motorcycle clubs still trespass. Some people say that the local asbestos isn't dangerous because it's fluffier/shorter/longer/curlier than others that are dangerous. Rural people say the closure is a coastal, liberal conspiracy. Complete opposite opinions are expressed in apparently respectable peer-reviewed scientific journals. I don't know what to believe. Maybe the rednecks are right, it's a perfectly good place to tear it up on your dirt bike. Or maybe it's insanely dangerous, and the uncertainty is caused by industry disinformation campaigns. Who knows.

debt 13y ago
That's interesting. I stopped at a McDonald's very near Coalinga* and on the take out window it read verbatim: "Chemicals known to the state of California to cause cancer, or birth defects or other reproductive harm may be present in foods or beverages sold or served here. Such chemicals are also present in this area and in consumer products and other items sold, provided, and used here." And wondered why this was on window. Now I know. Still decent cheeseburger though I don't care. *https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Coalinga,+CA/McDonald's,+27513+Ward+Dr,+Kettleman+City,+CA+93239/ https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Coalinga,+CA/McDonald's,+275...
- morkfromork 13y ago
  Pretty much every building in California has those warnings. Cars sold in California have a sticker on the driver window with that warning.
  - debt 13y ago
    Ha, that's weird, I guess I've noticed them before.
    - thrownaway2424 13y ago
      Yeah, it's a warning that was passed by ballot initiative. If the initiative had said "Warning: this building is known to contain body thetans" then they'd have to print that on the sign. Welcome to California.
      - jacobwil 13y ago
        As a non-CA resident I've benefitted from these stickers. One time I was given a bar set which included a shaker which had a sticker on it that said something along the lines of "This product contains lead paint which the state of California has found to be hazardous…"
        thaumasiotes 13y ago
        It goes farther. Every single cable (USB, HDMI, ethernet... that kind of cable) you buy will come with the same label "this product contains lead, a chemical known to the state of California to cause birth defects etc etc etc". It might have more of an effect if there were any cables that didn't come with the warning.
        jrabone 13y ago
        Presumably not ones assembled with lead-free solder? (not that the plastics are likely much safer by Californian standards, but still)
        Serow225 13y ago
        It's not usually the solder, often the rubber in the cable contains some white lead.
        13y ago
Fuxy 13y ago
I don't know however I suddenly have the urge to make a few asbestos grinding machines to plant them in the ventilation system of these big asbestos companies and their disinformation allies as an "experiment". On a more serious note if I were any of the people affected by this I would actually make it as one of my goals before i die. There's no better revenge then killing you with your own poison especially when it take years for the effects to be noticed. Hey if they are right nothing will happen to them right?
samstave 13y ago
California's state rock, Serpentine, contains asbestos.
jdcryans 13y ago
I come from one of the towns mentioned in the article, Thetford Mines (they somehow misspelled it), which is about 45 minutes drive from Asbestos. Reading the local newspaper is always entertaining, it seems everyone in town has an opinion about the fibre, and most of the time it's a positive one too. If some MP dares speak against it, everyone gets mad. Anyways, people live there and as a child it's normal to go play in the dump sites, which have a strange white-greenish color due to the mineral. You pick up a "bearded rock" as we call them, the beard being the asbestos fibre, and stash them in your bedroom or whatever kids do with rocks. Needless to say, living now in the States and telling people about those stories (which I considered normal, who wouldn't play with an asbestos-laden rocks?) always brings up interesting reactions. I was told (by the local newspaper) that you can't breath the big fibres, that it's once they're processed that they're dangerous, so I do wonder if I still have some it in me...
dccoolgai 13y ago
The thing about Mesothelioma is that it doesn't show up for a long time - sometimes 20 years or more. That's what makes asbestos so devious - it's easy for corporations to deny injuries they caused people 20 years and billions of dollars of profit later. If you think this isn't happening in the US anymore (a misconception a lot of people have) - I would recommend you read up on it: http://www.takejusticeback.com/Asbestos http://www.takejusticeback.com/Asbestos
dave5104 13y ago
I took a geology class at Stanford when I was an undergrad, and we went to that deposit/mine on a field trip. My professor claimed that the type of asbestos present at the mine was harmless since the mineral structure was a large fiber, and it didn't effect our lungs the way smaller fiber-ed asbestos does (different versions of serpentine, essentially). He made the argument that there was safe asbestos and unsafe asbestos. We them proceeded to walk all over it and collect some samples by hand. But I'm not sure who to believe nowadays, especially after reading this article. Makes the whole industry sound pretty scummy and doesn't allude to there being a "safe" version of asbestos. (My professor never told us about how the asbestos industry basically funded all sorts of propaganda in favor of the stuff.)
- thrownaway2424 13y ago
  That's interesting. I know undergrads from UCSC also use the site. I guess I trust geologists to describe the material, its fiber diameter and length and whether the fibers are straight or curved, soluble or insoluble, and so forth. I don't think I would listen to geologists on matters of disease, though :-) I've been to this area a number of times. I'm comfortable with it because if you do the math, it's pretty darn hard to poison open air. Working with the material in confined spaces may be suicidal. Walking on it under an open sky seems harmless.

debt 13y ago

That's interesting. I stopped at a McDonald's very near Coalinga* and on the take out window it read verbatim: "Chemicals known to the state of California to cause cancer, or birth defects or other reproductive harm may be present in foods or beverages sold or served here. Such chemicals are also present in this area and in consumer products and other items sold, provided, and used here." And wondered why this was on window. Now I know. Still decent cheeseburger though I don't care. *https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Coalinga,+CA/McDonald's,+27513+Ward+Dr,+Kettleman+City,+CA+93239/ https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Coalinga,+CA/McDonald's,+275...

morkfromork 13y ago
Pretty much every building in California has those warnings. Cars sold in California have a sticker on the driver window with that warning.
- debt 13y ago
  Ha, that's weird, I guess I've noticed them before.
  - thrownaway2424 13y ago
    Yeah, it's a warning that was passed by ballot initiative. If the initiative had said "Warning: this building is known to contain body thetans" then they'd have to print that on the sign. Welcome to California.
    - jacobwil 13y ago
      As a non-CA resident I've benefitted from these stickers. One time I was given a bar set which included a shaker which had a sticker on it that said something along the lines of "This product contains lead paint which the state of California has found to be hazardous…"
      - thaumasiotes 13y ago
        It goes farther. Every single cable (USB, HDMI, ethernet... that kind of cable) you buy will come with the same label "this product contains lead, a chemical known to the state of California to cause birth defects etc etc etc". It might have more of an effect if there were any cables that didn't come with the warning.
        jrabone 13y ago
        Presumably not ones assembled with lead-free solder? (not that the plastics are likely much safer by Californian standards, but still)
        Serow225 13y ago
        It's not usually the solder, often the rubber in the cable contains some white lead.
      - 13y ago

Fuxy 13y ago

I don't know however I suddenly have the urge to make a few asbestos grinding machines to plant them in the ventilation system of these big asbestos companies and their disinformation allies as an "experiment". On a more serious note if I were any of the people affected by this I would actually make it as one of my goals before i die. There's no better revenge then killing you with your own poison especially when it take years for the effects to be noticed. Hey if they are right nothing will happen to them right?

samstave 13y ago

California's state rock, Serpentine, contains asbestos.

jdcryans 13y ago

I come from one of the towns mentioned in the article, Thetford Mines (they somehow misspelled it), which is about 45 minutes drive from Asbestos. Reading the local newspaper is always entertaining, it seems everyone in town has an opinion about the fibre, and most of the time it's a positive one too. If some MP dares speak against it, everyone gets mad. Anyways, people live there and as a child it's normal to go play in the dump sites, which have a strange white-greenish color due to the mineral. You pick up a "bearded rock" as we call them, the beard being the asbestos fibre, and stash them in your bedroom or whatever kids do with rocks. Needless to say, living now in the States and telling people about those stories (which I considered normal, who wouldn't play with an asbestos-laden rocks?) always brings up interesting reactions. I was told (by the local newspaper) that you can't breath the big fibres, that it's once they're processed that they're dangerous, so I do wonder if I still have some it in me...

dccoolgai 13y ago

The thing about Mesothelioma is that it doesn't show up for a long time - sometimes 20 years or more. That's what makes asbestos so devious - it's easy for corporations to deny injuries they caused people 20 years and billions of dollars of profit later. If you think this isn't happening in the US anymore (a misconception a lot of people have) - I would recommend you read up on it: http://www.takejusticeback.com/Asbestos http://www.takejusticeback.com/Asbestos

dave5104 13y ago

I took a geology class at Stanford when I was an undergrad, and we went to that deposit/mine on a field trip. My professor claimed that the type of asbestos present at the mine was harmless since the mineral structure was a large fiber, and it didn't effect our lungs the way smaller fiber-ed asbestos does (different versions of serpentine, essentially). He made the argument that there was safe asbestos and unsafe asbestos. We them proceeded to walk all over it and collect some samples by hand. But I'm not sure who to believe nowadays, especially after reading this article. Makes the whole industry sound pretty scummy and doesn't allude to there being a "safe" version of asbestos. (My professor never told us about how the asbestos industry basically funded all sorts of propaganda in favor of the stuff.)

thrownaway2424 13y ago
That's interesting. I know undergrads from UCSC also use the site. I guess I trust geologists to describe the material, its fiber diameter and length and whether the fibers are straight or curved, soluble or insoluble, and so forth. I don't think I would listen to geologists on matters of disease, though :-) I've been to this area a number of times. I'm comfortable with it because if you do the math, it's pretty darn hard to poison open air. Working with the material in confined spaces may be suicidal. Walking on it under an open sky seems harmless.