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.

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.

Forbidden floof

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.

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.

… I picked a bad presidential term to stop smoking

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”

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.

I gave an example, fireplace cleaned napkins and tablecloths.

It was also used in bricks and pottery.

Slow assassinations.

Probably for its heat resistance

Then what is/was?

There is still an issue, at least here in the UK, of asbestos in older buildings.
Many of our infrastructures are rather old, and unless they are individually done to remove the asbestos (at a heavy price point), many buildings still contain it.

Just a couple of years ago I had to change a light fixture, and get someone trained to handle the substance (since it is still in the ceiling between floors).

Aah well I can buy asbestos legally in my country then. Let’s respawn Kent Cigarettes then.

And how many banned cigarettes?

Yes, they did. This is taken from the transcript of that episode, about 8 minutes in:

Chuck: They changed the pH on that filter to purposefully turn it brown as you smoke, so you look and you see, man, look at all that brown stuff that’s not getting into my lungs.

Josh: It fooled me for twenty years. Up until a couple of days ago, I had no idea that that was the case.

Chuck: Yeah, just one of the dirty tricks that cigarette manufacturers used and still used.

They also point out how the filter “is doing something” to reduce what makes it into your body, but not much.

What in the conspiracy theory?!

Take a drag. Blow the smoke through a tissue. Report back.

Tell me how your lungs felt smoking filterless vs. filtered. Or shall I start?

“Our grandparents lied to themselves about the harm of smoking as they called cigarettes ‘coffin nails’, we spent all day on social media telling ourselves it’s fine and that its how we keep in touch as we saw our cousins and childhood friends lose their damn minds.”

But for real I think the fact that it became difficult to live a social life without social media around the time the dangers became difficult to deny is very reminiscent of what it must have been like for my parents and grandparents as non-smokers in the mid-late 20th century.

They’ve studied them for quite a while, and they appear to be pretty safe. Most studies that “show” that they cause cancer were done on rats (a breed of which is notorious for developing cancer) and the amounts given to them were ludicrous, something like drinking multiple cases of diet soda in a day. The only possible issue I’ve seen so far is that sucralose affects the microbiome, and we don’t know enough about the microbiome still to know if it’s negative or positive.

IMHO the reduction in calories and sugar greatly outweigh any potential negative impacts if there are any.

fortunately sugar substitutes are one of the most studied substances in the world

What was it?

brushing your teeth (with plastic bristles) definitely helps

They are so much less polluting though. We know that car emissions are causing excess deaths, asthma, dementia, not to mention the obvious contributions to climate change.

Tyre and brake particles are still an issue, but its far less than if the fuel you’re burning is directly dumping toxic particles into the air.

increased tire particulates, road wear, and general pollution from the raw materials required.

Electric vehicle do wear down current tires more, and they do cause somewhat more wear on the roads … but these are issues that can be solved by creating better, more durable tires and roads.

And the ‘raw materials’ do cause damage to the environment, but much less over the lifetime of the vehicle than a gas engine. And, the majority of the materials needed for the batteries can be recycled, so future vehicles will have less environmental impact.

I agree that we need a mix of vehicles and I’m most places the mass public transportation options are very lacking, but overall I think if someone needs a car, they should look for an electric one.

Yeah that’s it!