this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2025
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History Memes

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[–] Death_Equity@lemmy.world 144 points 4 days ago (4 children)

I am once again reminding the world that the ancient Romans warned not to buy slaves from asbestos mines because of the health issues they had.

We have known for a very long time that asbestos was bad and we keep using it to this day.

At least we aren't using it to make easy clean tablecloths and napkins that only need to be thrown in a fire to clean...

[–] Sergio@lemmy.world 62 points 4 days ago (4 children)

asbestos mines

TIL asbestos is a naturally-occurring substance (I always thought it was synthetic!)

[–] NaibofTabr@infosec.pub 69 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Yeah, it's a crystal structure and it's really a shame that it causes so many health issues because it's kind of an amazing material otherwise. It's lightweight and strong enough to make bricks with but you can also make flexible fabric out of it, and it can hold up to really impressive amounts of heat. As the poster above said, it is still in use in some industrial applications because in some situations there is no effective alternative.

Of course the problem is that if you damage an asbestos brick or bend an asbestos fabric you get lots of tiny little asbestos fibers that come loose. My understanding is that the fibers are so small that they pierce cell walls and damage DNA strands, hence the cancer.

[–] protist@mander.xyz 83 points 4 days ago (2 children)

They're not small enough to directly damage DNA, they get trapped in your tissues and are impossible for your body to remove, and they cause inflammation and scarring. The long term inflammation and scarring is what increases cancer susceptibility

[–] NaibofTabr@infosec.pub 15 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Here we go, found it in the Health Impacts article:

There is experimental evidence that very slim fibers (<60 nm, <0.06 μm in breadth) tangle destructively with chromosomes (being of comparable size). This is likely to cause the sort of mitosis disruption expected in cancer.

And here in MECHANISMS OF ASBESTOS-INDUCED CARCINOGENESIS

It is somewhat more difficult to understand the “chromosome tangling hypothesis.” We recently found that asbestos fibers including crocidolite are actively taken up by several different kinds of cultured cells. Furthermore, those fibers enter both the cytoplasm and the nucleus. In this situation, asbestos fibers may tangle with chromosomes when cells divide. Whether there is a specificity of tangling for any chromosomal region is the next question to be addressed.

So not quite down to the DNA level, but basically chromosomes can get wrapped around asbestos fibers during cell division.

[–] acockworkorange@mander.xyz 2 points 2 days ago

TIL, thank you!

[–] Naz@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 days ago

Oh so like microplastics. Great :/

[–] protist@mander.xyz 34 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (2 children)

And asbestos is just one form of silica. Silica dust from many sources can cause serious lung problems, e.g. breathing in the dust from cutting granite countertops (which contain silica as quartz) or volcanic dust.

[–] turtlesareneat@discuss.online 8 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Heck just concrete dust will accumulate and cause chronic health issues. Something I hate knowing when I drive by a construction site and see a bunch of guys cutting foundations with saws, huge plumes of concrete dust, they're just breathing it unfiltered. But no one is playing up the health risks to these folks, and they aren't thinking about how bad it will be at 60 to be on oxygen or dead.

[–] PartyAt15thAndSummit@lemmy.zip 8 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Wood dust also does this. In fact, any little soluble, hard particles of a certain shape and size can get stuck in your lungs and do damage there. They act in a biophysical and not in a biochemical way. Which is why, in several countries, you're required to wear PPE when handling such, or any, powders or dusts.

[–] turtlesareneat@discuss.online 3 points 3 days ago

Yeah this sucked getting back into woodworking, they basically tell you now, if you can smell the sawdust and wood (my favorite part), you're in danger so get a mask on.

[–] HonoraryMancunian@lemmy.world 5 points 4 days ago

Makes one susceptible to pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

[–] BuboScandiacus@mander.xyz 10 points 3 days ago

Forbidden floof

[–] AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 5 points 3 days ago

And it's been used pretty much forever... in pottery, in garments... Charlemagne had an asbestos shirt he'd throw in the fire to clean stains off in order to amaze his visitors.

[–] vividspecter@aussie.zone 16 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

I believe the risks of silicosis from silica were known since ancient times too, although they probably didn't have any solutions or alternatives for it historically. More recently, there was the Hawk's Nest tunnel disaster in the US during the 1930s, where around a 100 mostly black workers died as a result of silicosis developed from cutting and blowing up quartz without any sort of protective measures.

Then in the modern era, there was a ban implemented in Australia of construction using high silica "engineered" stone. You'd think given the known health risks of silica that this could have been predicted, although it's not as clear cut (heh) as the risks of asbestos, since at least part of the problem was construction workers not using preventative measures such as wet drilling and PPE. But you could see how that goes over when the workers are often vulnerable in some way, and do not feel comfortable saying no to their bosses.

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago

There's also a problem where young workers often don't want to use uncomfortable and time consuming safety equipment. They're often far more receptive to the union demanding it than the employer or government ime, but it's similar to how people reacted to face masks during covid.

[–] notsure@fedia.io 12 points 4 days ago (2 children)

...have you heard the latest presidential executive order from the U nited S tates?...

[–] PugJesus@lemmy.world 18 points 4 days ago (1 children)

... I picked a bad presidential term to stop smoking

[–] notsure@fedia.io 11 points 4 days ago

...have some airplane! glue...

[–] naeap@sopuli.xyz 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Sorry, I'm out of the loop
Did the orange idiot suggest to bring asbestos back?
That would play well with Russia, as the current biggest exporter of asbestos and would pretty much fit the picture of the idiots way of doing "business"

[–] notsure@fedia.io 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

..quite so, this is a reversal of a previous EO since we can't seem to legislate anything...hold while i find a citation
Current Status of Asbestos Ban in the U.S. Overview of the Ban

In March 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized a ban on the ongoing uses of chrysotile asbestos, the only type currently used in the U.S. This ban is part of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and aims to protect public health by eliminating exposure to this known carcinogen. wikipedia

https://www.snopes.com/news/2025/06/20/trump-asbestos-biden-epa/

questions? me, too...

[–] naeap@sopuli.xyz 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Seems the current producers of chrysotile asbestos are Russia, Kazakhstan, China, and Brazil.
Or is there are also some mining/production in the USA?

[–] notsure@fedia.io 1 points 2 days ago

...i cannot find a source

[–] AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space 11 points 4 days ago (4 children)

What did the Romans use asbestos for?

[–] protist@mander.xyz 24 points 4 days ago

I found this:

Both the Greeks and the Romans employed asbestos as wicking material for their oil lamps. In fact, the very word “asbestos” comes from a Greek word meaning “inextinguishable.” In a world where lamplight extended work hours, a lamp wick made from chrysotile asbestos would burn almost indefinitely. In addition to lamp wicks, the Greeks and Romans used the long fibers of the serpentine form of asbestos in weaving textiles.

[–] Death_Equity@lemmy.world 10 points 4 days ago

I gave an example, fireplace cleaned napkins and tablecloths.

It was also used in bricks and pottery.

[–] MajorMajormajormajor@lemmy.ca 5 points 4 days ago

Slow assassinations.

[–] db0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 4 days ago

Probably for its heat resistance