I apologize for just posting a listing of my prior blogs once again, but I am knee deep into my thesis research on blue (crocidolite) asbestos being transported from South Africa, to Waukegan, Illinois, to the shores of Lake Michigan. I continue to learn, such as did you know that crocidolite asbestos fibers are 376…
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I apologize in advance for the poor quality of the document referenced below. The quality that you see is pretty much what I have. I always get confused as to when asbestos exposure was first attached to the causation of cancer. The below March 7, 1956 minutes of the Asbestos Textile Institute’s Air Hygiene Committee…
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By the way, I have all the respect in the world for Caterpillar. In my opinion they are an amazing company and the world is better off because of their products and services. Now, on to the below asbestos blog. During October, 1955, Industrial Hygienist William Retzer, employed by Caterpillar Tractor Company in Illinois, investigated…
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As many of you know, I am researching blue asbestos (crocidolite) issues, including its use in transite pressure piping manufactured at the Waukegan, IL facility. This 1969 document was part of a batch that I purchased this week from the Johns-Manville document repository. I suspect that few people have seen it during the last 30…
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I am waist deep into my thesis research, with a current focus on the Asbestos Containing Material on the Illinois State Beach Park. Just to set the baseline, as of April 1980, even the Environmental Protection Agency in the United States recognized that kids and asbestos do not mix. As stated by the EPA: “It…
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Today, we go back to 1933 and act like a fly on the wall concerning a December 14th letter from Harvard University School of Public Health (I cannot read the name of the author) to Gerard Swope, then the President of General Electric, Inc. There is a lot to unpack in this letter. Initially, the…
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I have completed my “final draft” proposal for my third thesis in my Master’s of History program at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. I have stated the research issue as follow: “The specific issue to be addressed in this thesis is the historic use of blue asbestos within the Johns-Manville Corporation manufacturing facility in…
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There is very little, asbestos wise, more fun than a deep dig into historical issues. Today, we examine exactly when asbestos became useful rather than primarily a play-thing. Fortunately, I happen to have a hard copy of a document which conclusively answers that question; well, at least for England. I believe that this document, an…
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My third thesis for the Masters in History program will likely involve tracking asbestos (primarily blue) sold by Cape Asbestos in South Africa to Johns-Manville for use in the JM Waukegan, Illinois site and which, over time, found itself into Lake Michigan, onto the Illinois beaches, or as being within the superfund clean-up site. The…
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Once again, science is either the problem or, it has advanced so far as to change what old school scientists thought was not subject to any dispute. While undertaking my asbestos historical research, I ran across the issue of whether asbestos was a potential cause of tuberculosis. I can already see many of my technology…
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