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Where History Means Knowledge. Be Informed.

Asbestos on Naval Ships: Why use Amosite Fibers?

I am beginning my path towards writing articles and (hopefully) a book on asbestos issues arising from shipbuilding, seafaring, and ship breaking. This will be a tremendous opportunity for me to personally better understand and then discuss the history and remaining legacy issues. I hope that you come along for the ride and participate with…
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Worldwide Asbestos Supply and Consumption: 1900 through 2003

Admittedly, this resource is more for us academics than either Meso Warriors or those in the front line treatments, research, prevention, or fighting the other battles. However, this reference contains a wealth of historical information not readily available from anywhere else. I am speaking, of course, about the U.S. Geological Survey’s Circular 1298 which was…
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ASBESTOS EXPORTS FROM RUSSIA: TIME FOR A WORLD WIDE BAN

I am all for the sanctions against Russia, especially those which involve most the world. Next time, let’s both limit their exports and do the world a favor. Ban their asbestos exports to every country; at least, put on an all out press to do so. That would stop 700,000 tons of the yearly 1.2…
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Manville, The Early Years: Joe and Stella Utasi First Hand Account and Escape from the Coal Mines of Pennsylvania to the Asbestos factory in Manville, New Jersey

I would like to once again bring history to life through the use of Ellis Island, the Coal Mines, to the Asbestos Capital of the World published by the Manville, NJ Public Library in 1987. The statement by Joe and Stella Utasi covers so many areas including, like many of the other stories in the…
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COMMUNICATING THE ASBESTOS MESSAGE: Search Engine Optimization

Asbestos related lawsuits in the United States make it difficult and expensive to effectively use social media to communicate about asbestos related issues, such as my recent thesis on the failure of the Space Shuttle Challenger’s asbestos containing putty. If you haven’t yet read my thesis, you can find it at https://theasbestosblog.com/?p=9723. This disconnect with…
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The Human Tragedy of Asbestos: October 22, 1981.

October 22, 1981 is when my dad passed away from Mesothelioma, likely arising from asbestos exposure during World War II while in the Navy. My understanding is that, in his agony, my mom may have used an especially heavy thumb on the morphine feeding machine that day. If she was able to muster that amount…
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Johns-Manville, The Story of Ted Kowalski

Rather than me telling a story this week, I have picked out a first hand recollection from the 1987 book entitled Ellis Island, the Coal Mines, to the Asbestos Capital of the World. I have chosen the comments by Ted Kowalski beginning on page 133. Mr. Kowalski, like many in his generation, moved to Manville,…
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Asbestos: In the Post-Civil War Era. A Trip Through History.

I enjoy our trips down history lane. We hear a lot of antidotal evidence about when the commercial use of asbestos became viable, with many people pointing to the then newly discovered mines in Canada during the 1870s. However, shortly after General Robert E. Lee gave up the ghost at Appomattox on April 9, 1865,…
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36th Anniversary of the Space Shuttle Challenger Tragedy: A Retrospective by Martin Ditkof

Thank you for joining me. You can find my thesis dated January 28, 2022, thirty-six years after the Space Shuttle Challenger tragedy, to review or download at: https://theasbestosblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Space-Shuttle-Challenger-Thesis-1282022.pdf I have titled the thesis “Space Shuttle Challenger January 28, 1986 Tragedy: 36 Years Later, A Retrospective on Causation and Moral Injuries.” Please feel free to share…
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Not all Asbestos is Created Equal

I received my final documents from NASA under a Freedom of Information Act request that I sent in October 2021 as part of my Masters Thesis dealing with the Space Shuttle Challenger. One of my focuses in the paper was to address whether the statement that “the Challenger tragedy on January 28, 1986 was caused…
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