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Where History Means Knowledge. Be Informed.

Asbestos Ancient History: Interesting Background Published in Scientific American during 1997

The below asbestos historical discussion contained in the July 1997 edition of Scientific American in “Asbestos Revisited” by James Alleman and Brooks Mossman discusses the ancient mineral background in much more detail than typical similar discourses and is worthy of a blog. That being said, the article contains one significant mistake: Pages 74-75 at the…
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Johns-Manville at the Very End: No Lessons Learned.

I have previously posted information about conduct by Johns-Manville in the 1930s to 1950s, especially their legal department, that was, to say the least, disheartening. See my Blogs at https://theasbestosblog.com/?p=769 and at https://theasbestosblog.com/?p=2808. So, did they see the errors of their ways over time or attempt to draw a line under which they would not…
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Electrical Codes: You show me Yours and I’ll show you Mine.

The oldest United States National Electric Code in my collection is from 1896. It begins on page 373 of the 1896 book authored by N. Hawkins entitled New Catechism of Electricity: A Practical Treatise by stating that the National Code is the “wiremen’s Bible.” I have four original hard copies of this book should anyone…
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Would Auto Brake Service Manuals and Instructions be Useful to You?

History requires a lot of digging and working through old documents. Early in my career, I was curious and interested in how the use of asbestos fibers in automobile brake friction material came about. To support this research, I purchased a number of automobile manuals and instructions. These are but a few of the manuals…
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On Holiday: Revisiting my First Blog Posting from December 2020

I am on vacation this week and heading out to meet my new grandson. As such, for my Blog, I will simply point you in the direction of my very first Blog from December 16, 2020 at https://theasbestosblog.com/?p=619 for your reading pleasure. Since then, my 70 plus Blogs have received over 9500 views. I am…
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Asbestos History: Finding, Organizing, and Accessing

Let us start of today with a scientific formula. The risk of bad or incomplete asbestos history = increasing the risk of mistakes, which leads to > than necessary bad science, law, and errors. I think that we have all been in the room when an otherwise knowledgeable person says something that sounds a bit…
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Asbestos Cancer Exposure from Drinking Water? No! Well, maybe. You decide what the scientists are trying to say.

When it comes to asbestos related historical science, we have a number of failures that confuse rather than clarify. Just look at my blog from March 5, 2021 entitled “The Disappearing Blog on Chrysotile Asbestos” posted at https://theasbestosblog.com/?p=2052 for a discussion on some of these issues. The scientific literature on whether asbestos related cancers arising…
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Richard Doll: An Englishman who made a Difference

As many of you have figured out, I have an extensive repository of historical asbestos related documents. The large number of diverse documents provides me the opportunity to help broaden our collective knowledge. Let’s go English this week with a 1985 publication by Sir Richard Doll which is a great primer for people trying to…
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My Challenger Research: Was Asbestos or a Substitute involved in the ill fated Flight?

I am taking this week off to be with family. I looked through my 70 plus blogs over the last year and one-half, and decided to re-post the one which I believe is the most thought provoking: my Challenger tragedy research. You can find it at https://theasbestosblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Space-Shuttle-Challenger-Thesis-1282022.pdf. This is my first of three such research…
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Asbestos in 1910: Fritz Cirkel Goes Wild

Fritz Cirkel followed up his 1905 book (see my blog from last week) with an amazingly expanded and comprehensive book in 1910 entitled Chrysotile Asbestos: Its Occurrence, Exploitation, Milling, and Uses. If the 1905 book was a Master’s Thesis in asbestos, the 1910 book is the full blown PhD in asbestos and drafted to cover…
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