[njovin]

From the parent comment's link:

> A Reuters examination of many of those documents, as well as deposition and trial testimony, shows that from at least 1971 to the early 2000s, the company’s raw talc and finished powders sometimes tested positive for small amounts of asbestos, and that company executives, mine managers, scientists, doctors and lawyers fretted over the problem and how to address it while failing to disclose it to regulators or the public.

I think you're being downvoted for not RTFA, not for asking a question.

[TheManInThePub]

> sometimes tested positive for small amounts of asbestos

And the question I have asked is where is the evidence that such small quantities are a risk? The UK links I have posted suggest otherwise. This is why I am asking.

I'm puzzled... are the US courts are saying "OMG Asbestos" rather than looking at safe levels? What if the same courts said "OMG 5G" ! This is why I am asking a genuine question.

[rkk3]

Because there is no safe level of exposure to asbestos.

From the above Reuters article "The World Health Organization and other authorities recognize no safe level of exposure to asbestos. While most people exposed never develop cancer, for some, even small amounts of asbestos are enough to trigger the disease years later."

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/johnsona...

[acomjean]

Asbestos has to be in a “friable” form for it to be bad. The particles are so small they can get into deep your lungs.

I actually was at a landfill expansion project where a backhoe digging down through the trash hit some bags labeled asbestos. I’m glad it was raining. Also worked in a building with asbestos in the floor tiles. Fine when not disturbed, but anytime they had to remove them it was a production.

https://ehs.oregonstate.edu/asb-when

https://www.fs.fed.us/eng/toolbox/haz/haz07b.htm

[jliptzin]

In high school I helped a friend rip up the floor tiles in his basement which were probably from the 50s. Years later I realized I could have been exposed to asbestos, is there any way to know whether asbestos would have been in the particular tiles I was ripping up?

[acomjean]

I don't have much to add, but felt I should respond.

I feel like the risk is probably less than you think (the facilities people I worked with thought it was overkill for the tiles with a small % of asbestos). but its not zero. As someone who might have been exposed (was in a vacinity), its hard because you can never really know. Also there might have been other instances where exposure might have happened and you don't know (my high school was rebuilt recently because it wasn't 'up to code" when I was going there.

[jliptzin]

Thank you

[soperj]

You can get the tiles tested if you still have access to any of them.

[throwawaysea]

Interestingly some uses of asbestos aren’t actually banned, which is very surprising to me: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/is-epa-allowing-asbestos-p...

[makomk]

As I understand it, there's also trace levels of naturally-occurring asbestos pretty much everywhere humans live, so there's also no way to completely avoid exposure.

[snowwrestler]

The impact is cumulative so unavoidable environmental exposure increases the concern about additional exposure from consumer products.

[TheManInThePub]

> Because there is no safe level of exposure to asbestos.

I think we are getting to the bottom of this :-)

The UK Health and Safety Executive state...

"The control limit for asbestos is 0.1 asbestos fibres per cubic centimetre of air (0.1 f/cm3). The control limit is not a 'safe' level and exposure from work activities involving asbestos must be reduced to as far below the control limit as possible."[1]

Maybe this is where the differences arise. The UK are comfortable with a minimum practical level where risks are very low, whereas the US state none at all.

Thank you for helping answer a question and not mindlessly clicking on down vote. HN is beginning to turn into Reddit rather than seeking inquisitive technical/scientific conversation.

[1] https://www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/regulations.htm

[rkk3]

That link has to deal with regulation and risk mitigation for removing Asbestos, not selling a consumer product with Asbestos.

The UK took its time but they did fully ban Asbestos in 1999.

[headmelted]

That’s not the question you asked and you know it.

That said, it is very much known that there are no safe levels of exposure. We know this from case data, but also pretty horrifically from workers who inadvertently gave their family members terminal illnesses later in life because they carried what would have at the time been considered fairly trivial amounts of loose dust home on their shoes/overalls/hair.

[alsetmusic]

If this gets another “shame on you” edit, I’d reflect on we people are downvoting you. Fwiw, I haven’t voted on your comments either way.

[TheManInThePub]

If people could explain why they are down voting honest questions I would appreciate it.

I've never heard of claimed talc-cancer links in the UK.

[ohyeshedid]

Slant related: I've never seen anyone asking where the upvotes came from, and that makes the opposite a bit odd across the board for me.

[FpUser]

Well for one thing downvotes make text harder to read unless selected.

[0xFF0123]

As other comments have pointed out, talcum powder in its pure form is talc, which is a mineral and safe. The issue is that some cosmetics were contaminated with asbestos, which is not safe.

[gmadsen]

conspiracy to falsify info to regulators is a crime by itself