Serious question: is it still possible to get a hold of asbestos clothing and/or accessories (bags, napkin, etc.)? Also, how dangerous are these materials relative to the finer and more processed industrial counterparts?
AFAIU asbestos is technically a legal/commercial classification that encompasses a few different types of minerals. In the U.S. the EPA sees them all as carcinogenic enough that it stopped encouraging comparative health research between the various types.
For fabrics and such, you'd most likely be getting chrysotile, or white asbestos.
The main problem with all of these minerals is that they are highly friable, meaning that they flake off easily when handled, and these flakes are what cause asbestosis and mesothelioma. My (limited) understanding is that the particle size for "unprocessed" asbestos is still small enough to be carcinogenic. Hopefully, a pulmonologist can weigh in and give a better answer.
Anyway, I've seen numbers before that Russia, China, Brazil and several other countries still produce a lot of asbestos and related products. You could probably pick something up from those places, but most developed countries heavily regulate this stuff, so you'd likely have a hard time importing the stuff without some really good reasons.
If you're interested, the site asbestos.com has a lot of good overiews on the industrial, legal and medical history that you can dig into.
elhudy|8 years ago
xelxebar|8 years ago
For fabrics and such, you'd most likely be getting chrysotile, or white asbestos.
The main problem with all of these minerals is that they are highly friable, meaning that they flake off easily when handled, and these flakes are what cause asbestosis and mesothelioma. My (limited) understanding is that the particle size for "unprocessed" asbestos is still small enough to be carcinogenic. Hopefully, a pulmonologist can weigh in and give a better answer.
Anyway, I've seen numbers before that Russia, China, Brazil and several other countries still produce a lot of asbestos and related products. You could probably pick something up from those places, but most developed countries heavily regulate this stuff, so you'd likely have a hard time importing the stuff without some really good reasons.
If you're interested, the site asbestos.com has a lot of good overiews on the industrial, legal and medical history that you can dig into.
Stay safe :/
kencausey|8 years ago
nerdponx|8 years ago