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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I get a fair number of requests focused on asbestos issues arising from older home construction. Given that this is not my sweet spot on the historical use of asbestos, I have linked at https://theasbestosblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/1989-Asbestos-in-Home-CPSC.pdf a 1989 joint publication by the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission that…
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Below is a listing with hot links to each of my 150 asbestos history blogs since December 2020. It has been a wonderful three years and I appreciate the interest so many of my friends have shown. My total view count is about to reach 22,000 for these last three years. My blogs are intended…
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My paper on the State of the Field for Environmental History is completed. It is about 14 pages with 62 footnotes and was submitted in the United States History in the World class. For those who like to read scholarly research, you can find a copy of the paper at https://theasbestosblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/State-of-the-Field-Essay-Env-History-1282023.pdf. My goal is to…
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When I used to represent clients in asbestos lawsuits (as many of you know that means having represented defendants sued in those cases), I often wondered about the historical knowledge of the leading companies back in those olden days. I don’t mean smaller companies or those without any known exposures at the time, but companies…
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The document which I have attached at https://theasbestosblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/What-Every-New-Lawyer-Needs-to-Know.pdf may be somewhat dated at this point in time, but it is still one of the best available documents on the Internet in order to help young attorneys (and others) get up to speed on asbestos related issues. It was drafted by Attorney James H. Crosby as…
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I have previously posted about Asbestos Fundamentals, a German origin book published by Hans Berger and then translated to English by Ralph Oesper, then of the University of Cincinnati, in 1963. At 171 pages, it is an amazing resource. Today, we are going to discuss Chapter 3 entitled “Historical Development,” The discussion begins with Callimachus…
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We write and talk a great deal about asbestos fibers arising from occupational exposure, but what about those same fibers in your breathing zone just because of where you live? I don’t mean the real hot spots like Libby, Montana or Wittenoom, Australia; we all know the horrors faced by residents in those communities when…
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I received a message from Ed Hill several days ago, about a story involving recent exposure to asbestos while in the military. Because Ed said that the U.S. soldiers were also in the buildings and experienced the same exposure, I thought that my blog this week should be just providing the link to his story…
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