The Weird World of Chrysotile Asbestos

On March 5, 2021, I begged out of delving into the political aspects of Chrysotile Asbestos. Rather, I just laid out the history which, of course, is my forte. https://theasbestosblog.com/?p=2052.

I stand by that history today and would like to note that the world seems divided on the extent of the danger from raw, pure Chrysotile Asbestos fibers. As such, my recommendation is that you continue to avoid all asbestos, including Chrysotile fibers, until the scientific literature catches up with the politics.

Let me provide an example of a United States Government publication which seems to mix the politics with the science on this precise issue, and does so in a way that would likely confuse the public. I am talking about the U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey from 1995 which is entitled Preliminary Compilation of Descriptive Geoenvironmental Mineral Deposit Models. This is an extensive publication about mineral deposits as shown by its Contents page below. It has some discussion on asbestos (note the Content listing for page 39), but asbestos is not the focus of the document.

As to the potential health risks from Chrysotile Asbestos, Page 2 of Chapter 1 (below and circled) says that such cancer risks are “negligible” whereas Crocidolite and Amosite are “clearly linked” to increased human mortality.

And yet, when you get to page 40 of the book, the “negligible effects” is replaced by claiming health risks from such exposures are “controversial” and then blaming the EPA for the controversy.

I ask my readers, especially those of you involved in the discussions on Chrysotile exposure, what value this publication brings to the issue? On the other hand, given that it is a 25-year-old U.S. government publication, I suspect that some scientists are relying on it as foundational for their opinions.

My point is this. There is a lot of science on this issue, but even more politics. The goal is to stay safe and you should rely on the scientists and not us History Majors or the politicians as we add very little good information to the discussion. I very much enjoy being a historian, while also understanding the limitations associated with that field.

Please let me know what you think of this blog by emailing me at TheAsbestosBlog@gmail.com or by leaving me a comment. Thank you.