Author: Martin Ditkof

Where History Means Knowledge. Be Informed.

Asbestos Exposure from Unexpected Places: Marble, Wastes, and a Tourist Attraction all in One. A Story from India.

February 6, 2025

Asbestos exposures can occur even in unexpected locations. A recent journal article titled “Marble Waste Dump Yard in Rajasthan, India Revealed as a Potential Asbestos Hazard” is an excellent example. A copy of the full article is at https://theasbestosblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/2025-India.pdf. The article acknowledges that asbestos studies and regulations focusing on mining and buildings are readily available…
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Remembering the Involvement of Asbestos in the Challenger Tragedy: January 28, 1986

January 24, 2025

My research thesis on the involvement of asbestos and potential asbestos substitutes in the Challenger tragedy is discussed at https://theasbestosblog.com/?p=10618. I first posted my full research project discussing this Internet myth during January 2022 in the blog located at https://theasbestosblog.com/?p=9723. The full blown 75 page research paper with footnotes and bibliography can be read at https://theasbestosblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Space-Shuttle-Challenger-Thesis-1282022.pdf. If…
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Researching Asbestos History: Some Words of Wisdom

January 18, 2025

Researching asbestos history is difficult — lots of mistakes (especially about the science), experts and attorneys with private data/document silos, significant paywalls to get articles, inconsistent claims trying to reconcile studies that have been undertaken in the Global South to those using the countries of the Global North, and on and on and on. This…
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Chrysolite and Cryolite: Not just Spelling Errors

January 8, 2025

I learn new things every day. As I was searching for some asbestos-related information, I accidentally spelled “chrysotile” as “chrysolite” and got some weird search hits completely unrelated as asbestos. I figured that if it happened to me, then others of you out there may make the same mistake. Please note the following: Chrysolite, unlike…
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2022 From Russian Academic: Give Asbestos Another Chance

January 2, 2025

While researching some of the asbestos science aspects this past week, I ran across an asbestos use and safety analysis by Russian pathologist and author Sergei V. Jargin who has a biography at https://novapublishers.com/writer/sergei-v-jargin/. Although much of his scholarly discourses involve the overestimation of medical consequences of low-dose exposure to ionizing radiation (think: Chernobyl Nuclear…
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My Weekly Blog is a Summary of Prior Blogs

December 26, 2024

Below is a table listing all of my asbestos-related blogs from December 2020 to the present including the titles, dates, and hot links. Interestingly, my summary blogs are among my most popular. Happy Holidays to all. Thank you. Marty Blog Title Date Blog Location 1 Asbestos, a Magic Mineral Dec 16, 2020 https://theasbestosblog.com/?p=619 2 A…
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Ship Design, Manufacture, Routes, Repair, and Breaking: Understanding the Complexity and Exposure.

December 14, 2024

One of the more difficult jobs for Mesothelioma sufferers, attorneys, shipbreakers, and others participating in “Industries Behind the Ship,” is to sort out when and where asbestos components were located. To help you, The Book of the Ship from 1949 is a good starting place. The book doesn’t focus on asbestos but, rather on ship…
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1966, Bendix to Johns-Manville: Die Baby, Die.

December 8, 2024

Most of my lawyer friends know this story, but I am not sure about others. So, lets begin with the participants. On September 12, 1966, E. A. Martin, was a Director of Purchases for the Bendix Friction Material Division stationed in Troy, New York. Noel Hendry, at the same time, was employed at “Canadian Johns…
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1640: Does Asbestos Taste Good? Let’s ask the Earl of Sandwich about Asbestos Stone Juice.

December 1, 2024

I was going to skip doing a blog this week, but I found some extra time. All of my History PhD applications are filed and I have been playing around with some of my older books and electronic materials. I decided to start off with one of the big issues about asbestos: the toxicity when…
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1906 Sweet’s: Manville versus Keasbey, Which One Guarantees Perfection?

November 21, 2024

I found a copy of Sweet’s 1906 Indexed Catalogue of Building Construction on EBay. This is 760 page compilation of catalogs for building construction was created by architects to overcome the challenges of staying current with the capability of particular products. As such, if you want to database the likely use of asbestos in construction…
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