Tag: asbestoshistory

Where History Means Knowledge. Be Informed.

1937: Asbestos, Talc, and Tremolite Talc. What was then Known by the Standard Oil Company (N.J.).

We already know that, per the historical documents, Johns-Manville was aware of asbestos occupational lung related issues arising in its Manville, N.J. facilities by the early 1930s. My blog at https://theasbestosblog.com/?p=769 mentions the twelve lawsuits filed in the late 1920s which Manville settled for $30,000 in total with secrecy agreements in 1933, along with obtaining…
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Asbestos-Containing Construction Material in Buildings in the United States: At Least until the Late 1980s. Maybe Later.

Having played around on the Internet the last few weeks, I am concerned over a number of postings which claim that buildings constructed in the United States after 1978 shouldn’t contain asbestos. That is just not true and unknowing people may be relying on those statements. Hence, this post. First of all, the EPA ban…
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Asbestos on Ships: Not Just for Insulation.

Asbestos has been used on a variety of components on ships since at least the late 1800s. This blog isn’t about Navy ships as I already blogged on that topic at https://theasbestosblog.com/?p=9987. Rather, this blog is to provide a history primarily concerning civilian sailing vessels such as a cruise ship or an oil tanker and…
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How to Find, Research, and Download Old Asbestos Documents: The Hathi Digital Trust is the Place to Be.

For those of you who like to collect old documents or do your own research, especially for asbestos related issues, the Hathi Digital Trust is a great place to start. Never heard of the Hathi Digital Trust? You are leaving behind 18 million documents scanned into electronic format by Google. A good discussion is found…
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Remembering the Space Shuttle Challenger: Was it Really an Asbestos Substitute that did in the O-rings and, Ultimately, caused the tragedy? My Research.

I first posted my full research project discussing this Internet myth during January 2022 in the blog located at https://theasbestosblog.com/?p=9723. The full blown 75 page research paper with footnotes and bibliography can be read at https://theasbestosblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Space-Shuttle-Challenger-Thesis-1282022.pdf. If you are interested in the topic but do not want to read the entire scholarly analysis, please find…
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Asbestos: Developing Countries Versus Developed Countries. A Snapshot from 2000 for Bangladesh

As I dig into the published material for my research thesis focusing on the asbestos exposure arising from shipbreaking in Bangladesh, I think that a blog discussing the stark differences between developing countries and developed countries might be worthwhile. I have chosen the year 2000 for a comparison as England went asbestos free in 1999…
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Asbestos History Blogs: 100 Weekly Blogs and Still Going. A Summary.

I started my weekly asbestos history blogs on December 16, 2020. Just over two years later, the total has reached 100. Hopefully, you find them interesting, informative, and thought provoking. For those of you who have joined me after the beginning or who have specific topics of interest, I am listing the blogs in the…
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Asbestos in 1827: A Deep Historical Dig

This post is aimed at people who are truly interested in the ancient history. For the sake of ease, let’s define ancient history as almost 200 years ago, as we happen to have a book from 1827 (the edition that I have is dated 1827) with a pretty good discussion. In fact, this 550 page…
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When is an Asbestos Blog not about Asbestos?: Let’s Talk about the Good and the Bad in People.

Nazis, death camps, and Priests. For my 98th weekly blog, I am going to detour from directly discussing asbestos, although this story is taken from the stories about Johns-Manville provided by the residents of Manville, N.J. during 1987 in the book published by the Manville Public Library titled Ellis Island, the Coal Mines, to the…
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Manville, N.J., 1912 to 1929: A Trip Back Through Time

My blog this week will change the pace back to pure history, including what was then thought to be a wonderful development of Johns-Manville moving to Manville, New Jersey. This discussion involves the city outside of the factory and, quite honestly, during a time when asbestos had a good reputation. The city leaders were proud…
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