Tag: history

Where History Means Knowledge. Be Informed.

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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ASBESTOS IN 1905: AT LEAST THE ENGLISH CAN BLAME THE SCOTS

One of my favorite asbestos history books was written by Fritz Cirkel in 1905 entitled Canadian Government Report on Asbestos: Asbestos, its Occurrence, Exploitation and Uses. This book goes all the way back in terms of commercial use and is filled with pictures and facts rarely seen elsewhere, including many involving England. Let’s start at…
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Editorial Number Two: Why is the United States System more of a lottery than a search for fairness, justice, and the truth?

The primary purpose of a civil court system is generally to provide access to the public, with the goal of searching for fairness, justice, and the truth while at the same time providing finality. At least, that is the way that most people generally view the nature and purpose of civil courts. These courts are…
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Editorial: Why do the Residents of the United States get the Lion’s Share of the Money?

I am just off the road from a summer trip with family and friends and would like to get back into researching and providing to you my weekly asbestos blogs that focus on history related issues. Let me know if you have any particular questions which you would like to see addressed. Today’s blog is…
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Commercial and Industrial Uses of Asbestos: What, Where, and Estimated Releases to Air, Water, and Land.

This one is special. I often see questions about whether a certain product discovered at an industrial or commercial site might be asbestos. If you run across this issue in your job, then I have a “go to” resource for you to use as a starting point. No pictures, unfortunately (although the Owens Corning Picture…
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Back to Manville, N.J. History: Mary Limyansky

I may overly post about the people who made history at Manville, N.J., but I think that the first hand statements of the residents, especially those who had family working at the Johns-Manville facility, add a lot of context to that history. This story by Mary Limyansky is told in Ellis Island, the Coal Mines,…
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