TIL USA banned asbestos only in 2024
TIL USA banned asbestos only in 2024
en.wikipedia.org
Asbestos and the law (United States) - Wikipedia
57 comments
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It was done under Biden's term.
Trump unbanning it out of petty childishness in 3...2...1....
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It’s been banned in new construction for a long time I believe. What they recently banned was the niche use of it in industrial applications I believe. Which pretty much completely banned it
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It's one of those materials that has an almost complete list of superb properties, with one overwhelming downside. It's cheap, abundantly available, completely fireproof and can be woven into fireproof cloth, adds enormous structural strength to concrete in small quantities, very resistant to a wide range of chemical attacks. It's just that the dust causes horrific cancers. See also CFCs, leaded petrol, etc, which have the same 'very cheap, superb in their intended use, but the negative outweighs all positives'.
One of the 'niche industrial applications' was the production of pump gaskets in high-temperature scenarios, especially when pumping corrosive liquids. We've a range of superalloys that are 'suitable' for these applications - something like inconel is an absolute bastard to form into shapes, but once you've done so it lasts a long time. But you still need something with similar properties when screwing the bits together. For a long time, there was no suitable synthetic replacement for asbestos in that kind of usage.
If you know that the asbestos is there, have suitable PPE and procedures, then IMHO it's far from the worst industrial material to work with. It's pretty inert, doesn't catch fire or explode, and isn't one of the many exciting chemicals where a single droplet on your skin would be sufficient to kill you. What is inappropriate is using it as a general-purpose building material, which is how it was used for so long, and where it was able to cause so much suffering for so many people.
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The biggest problem with it is that the particles are so small that they can stay afloat for weeks without any airflow. They are just that light.
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Allegedly, if there's asbestos in your workplace, it's better to leave it and not remove it. IE, in wall or ceiling paint
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Asbestos in it's solid form is actually pretty harmless, and it has a huge amount of benefits. The downside is the particulates say in the air for days or weeks, and they cause horrific cancers.
Its really hard and expensive to get rid of asbestos safely, but it's pretty inert after it's actually installed somewhere.
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Trump has touted to bring it back many times. Take a guess who the biggest exporter is.. Russia :/
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Literally a joke from the Simpsons. Bart runs for class president and proclaims "We want more asbestos!"
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On 25 June 2018, a Russian mining company named Uralasbest, which is one of the world’s largest producers of asbestos, posted a message of support for President Trump on their official Facebook and VK (a Russian version of Facebook) pages. The post included photographs of packed asbestos material adorned with the face of Trump and the text "Approved by Donald Trump, 45th President of the United States.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/russian-asbestos-trump_face/
At this point the only people who seem to think he isn't a Russian asset are the ones in Congress. Personally I would love Congress to finally just start calling him out on all his constant bull shit. Which they have started, but it needs to be ramped up considerably. There is so much material, if the Republicans were in the Democrats shoes they would never stop screaming about all this crap, yet for the first they wouldn't need to lie.
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Until someone that owns an asbestos mine buys one of those trump gold cards…
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Reminds me of Kingdom of Loathing. They tried to make a joke out of getting materials from mines in the game that aren't mined, like linoleum (which is made from linseed oil). You go to a mine and get "linoleum ore" in the game. Or asbestos ore. Because they didn't know that asbestos is actually a mineral that is mined.
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omg. turns out there something called an asbestos bankruptcy trust that companies use to get out of paying people injured by asbestos exposure
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asbestos_bankruptcy_trusts?wprov=sfla1
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And there are states that passed laws specifically to make it harder for people to sue at all (red states, obviously)
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Tort reform once again
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"The largest 26 of these trusts paid about 2.4 million claims totaling about $10.9 billion up to 2008."
Sounds like they were made to pay people. The companies are bankrupt...the trusts ensure funds are available to pay people despite the companies being insolvent.
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Don't worry, not for long.
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Ha! My first thought too. Gotta Make America Cancer Again.
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How else will you scratch that itch in your lungs?
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We still use leaded gas for aviation, as does (I believe) the EU (I'm guessing RoW, too).
(Supposed to be banned this year in the EU but AFAICT pushed back until 2032.)
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Avgas (100LL) isn't banned yet. What is banned, starting may 2025, is importing or mixing the lead additive (TEL) itself, so avgas cannot be produced in Europe.
This means that avgas will have to be imported from elsewhere, which should raise its price and provide an incentive to move away from using it.
This is a very soft handed approach, I'll just say I'm very glad I don't live close to an airfield...
Edit: jet fuel doesn't contain lead. Only piston engine aircraft use this fuel.
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Not for mass aviation, that's Kerosene (no, really, jet fuel is kerosene done to slightly fancier standards than your lantern fuel), which is unleaded fuel
Other guy explained avgas, which is leaded but not nearly as used as jet fuel
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I worked asbestos removal twenty years ago. It might have just been on the books recently, that doesn't mean it hasn't been a major concern, and actively removed for almost half a century.
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There are probably still a ton of oil heated homes with steam pipes wrapped in asbestos in the US. Hell, even my high school in the early 2000s was still using asbestos insulation everywhere, and I recall seeing those mesothelioma class-action commercials way before that in the 90s.
I bought a house in New England that still had it in 2016 and it was upwards of $7000 to replace at a discount (which also included the boiler, so probably closer $2000 for the pipes+labor) in 2018. For those looking to buy a home that might be oil heated, keep this in mind! One of the previous owners attempted to cover it all with black duct tape, but it wasn't made to last under the heat those pipes can put out (especially when your boiler tstat breaks and ambient temps rise to 90F...)
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Asbestos abatement ain't cheap because there are specific ways it needs to be handled and disposed of.
If you don't live in a shithole state, at least.
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The healthy power of asbestos crystals in your toothpaste will remove any stubborn bacteria that HCL or Sulfuric acids can't remove! HSO4! Really! One brushing and you'll have a permanent smile in no time! ....some people may not have a permanent smile depending in rigor mortis.
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Is that for buildings or all applications? There were still some niche uses outside of buildings.
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The state serves capital (especially landlords), not people.
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They're going to unban it and RFK is going to say lick it to cure measles
57 comments