… It Might Not Be As Easy – Or As Cheap – As You Think

Here at Asbestos Abatement, Inc. World Headquarters, we’re always on the cutting edge of new developments in the asbestos abatement industry.  One of the latest intrigues in our business is a surge, uptick, and overall increase in people wanting to use Do-It-Yourself (DIY) home asbestos testing kits.

Ill-informed people (which doesn’t include regular readers of this space) are out there thinking they can save money using these home tests, which are available at some big-box home improvement stores.

These days, with the economy and inflation being what they are, you can understand anyone’s desire to save a few bucks.

Many also think they can get “just as good” a result using a DIY home test as they’d get by engaging the services of an asbestos testing professional.

And then there’s the safety factor.  “How hard could it be?” you can almost hear these ill-informed people saying, guessing that it isn’t all that dangerous to collect samples from materials they suspect might contain asbestos.

You can probably guess where we’re heading with this….

First, let’s look at the cost factor.  Yes, many of those test kits, which include some protective gear, instructions, and bags for the samples you’ll collect, are not too expensive.  But there are hidden costs.  (Aren’t there always?)

Once you collect your samples, you have to send them to a lab for testing, and the fee you’ll be charged for those tests can be eye-popping.

By the time you pay those lab fees (either separately, as detailed in your home test’s instructions, or “included,” which is a feature of the really expensive home tests), you may well find you haven’t saved any money at all.

Then there’s the accuracy of these tests.  The lab will probably test your sample accurately, but collecting the sample properly, so that the test CAN be accurate, is not as easy as you might think.  That’s why professional testers go to a lot of trouble to know how to do it right.

Imagine getting a home COVID test which gives a “maybe” result.  Or one that declares you aren’t sick, when you are!  And which ends up costing much more than you expected.

Finally, there’s the issue of safety.  When you dig into materials you suspect might include asbestos, even if you’re wearing your snazzy protective overalls and goggles, you run the risk of disturbing the asbestos and sending cancer-causing fibers into the air at your place.

Imagine getting a home COVID test which, while it may or may not tell you whether you are sick, could GIVE you COVID.

Imagine a home pregnancy test that could make you pregnant.

Okay, these might be extreme examples.  But why take a chance?  Especially if you’re not saving all that much (or even any) money… why not go ahead and hire a pro?

A house fire, plumbing problem, or bad DIY project can release dangerous asbestos particles into your air.  You’ll want to get the place tested… but if you’re thinking about using a home DIY asbestos test, you might want to think again.  Hire a professional tester.  We can refer you to a good one (we don’t do the testing ourselves, since it’s a conflict of interest).  And, whatever you have to spend, it’s worth having asbestos-free air, and not having to worry about contracting a disease that can’t be cured.

The post Home test for asbestos? appeared first on Asbestos Abatement, Inc..

… Another Company’s Baby Powder May Contain Asbestos

Remember that high-profile legal case involving Johnson & Johnson baby powder… the one where the company was held liable for selling a product containing asbestos which harmed its users?

Well, that was some time ago.  Like, many weeks ago.  In fact, “J & J” announced that they’d end the sale of that kind of baby powder by the first of this year (and switch to a different baby powder with a corn-starch base)… possibly because they still face tens of thousands of lawsuits.

It’s a good guess that customers switched away from J & J baby powder for several reasons.  Among those reasons::

• There are other brands of baby powder by manufacturers who aren’t J & J,
• Everyone in the free world has probably heard about J & J’s legal troubles, and
• Many people, especially astute readers of this space, know that asbestos is dangerous.

Bad news, Gentle Readers: It turns out J & J probably isn’t the only manufacturer that’s put asbestos-containing baby powder on the market.

Dynarex, which makes the “Dynacare” brand of baby powder, was just caught by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for putting asbestos back on the baby powder shelves.

The FDA did some random routine testing, and sure enough, samples of Dynacare were shown to contain cancer-causing asbestos.

Dynarex has recalled sixty-two cases of Dynacare from distributors in twelve states, including Colorado.  The stuff has also been sold on Amazon, so even your sister in Texas (not one of the twelve) might be powdering her kid (or herself) with the ugly stuff.

Why is this a problem, you may ask, especially if you are NOT one of the astute regular readers of this space?

Here’s why:  Asbestos is actually all around us, in everything from the materials used to build our homes and workplaces, to the faux jewelry favored by our teenage daughters.  When it’s in its solid, manufactured state, the asbestos is not harmful.

But when the stuff is disturbed, by something as simple as a small house fire or a burst pipe (or by our teenage daughter tossing her faux jewelry into the fireplace)… it breaks up into microscopic shards that can impale themselves in your lungs and cause some types of cancer that can’t be cured.

Asbestos has also been found in many products that contain talcum, such as powdered makeup and, yes, baby powder.  That’s because it’s darned difficult to mine talcum without scooping up asbestos in the process, since the two minerals are often mingled or co-located in the earth.

It doesn’t take a genius, or even an astute regular reader of this space, to realize that if asbestos arrives in your home in powdered form, it’s already disturbed.  Breathe enough of that stuff in, over time, and you could be in serious trouble.

So could Baby.

So if you have powdered makeup in your home that includes “talcum” or “talc” (read the ingredients), get rid of it.

And if you have Dynacare baby powder in a 14-ounce plastic bottle with the batch number “B051” and an expiration date of 12/28/26 printed on the bottom, do not use it.  Instead, return it for a full refund.  You can get ahold of Dynarex at 888-396-2739 or by emailing recall@dynarex.com.

Don’t take chances with asbestos.  It’s an ugly poison that you don’t want in your world.  If you suspect you might have airborne asbestos, either because you’ve been using Dynacare baby powder or because someone threw their faux jewelry into the fireplace, get your place professionally tested.  And if a problem is detected, reach out to your expert and attractive friends at Asbestos Abatement, Inc.  We’ll work hard to make your place asbestos free.

The post Just When You Thought It Was Safe To Powder The Baby appeared first on Asbestos Abatement, Inc..

… No, You Don’t… Nobody Does

Faithful readers of this web log, or “blog” as the kids say, are aware of several things other people may not know:

• A web log is called a “blog”
• This blog exists
• “I” before “E,” except after “C,” or when sounded as “A” (as in NEIGHBOR and WEIGH)
• Asbestos is ugly
• Asbestos is still legal in the United States
• You can’t mine or manufacture with asbestos in the U.S., but you can import products that contain asbestos
• And Man, do they ever!
• You can view this blog on your computer or other electronic device
• But not your toaster, even if it’s electronic
• Asbestos is dangerous
• Well, not all the time… if it’s left undisturbed in its manufactured state, such as in your wall boards, ceiling tiles, pipe insulation, or a host of other building materials, asbestos is not dangerous
• But if those products DO get disturbed, such as by a small (or big) house fire, a burst pipe, or a bad DIY project, whoa Nelly
• We say “whoa Nelly” because asbestos, being basically an ugly rock, breaks up when it’s disturbed into little airborne shards o’death
• We say “shards o’death” because if you breathe in enough of these little shards, they can impale themselves in your lungs and give you types of cancer that you can’t recover from
• We say “can’t recover from” because mesothelioma, one of the main cancers which asbestos has been proven to cause, is incurable.
• Whoa, Nelly.
• The staff at Asbestos Abatement, Inc., aside from being supreme experts in solving airborne asbestos problems, is distractingly attractive by all objective measures
• Though we have no idea what you think, we think that asbestos abatement costs less than you think
• It certainly is worth the cost, considering it could save your life
• Makeup – especially makeup that includes talcum powder – often contains asbestos
• When asbestos shows up in your home in powder form, it’s already “disturbed”
• Throw it away!
• Lots of other imported products also contain sneakily-included asbestos, such as your teenage daughter’s faux jewelry.
• Seriously!
• Whoa, Nelly.
• The word “asbestos” contains only one “a,” and includes an “o” near the end
• You can’t see microscopic stuff without a microscope… which is where the term “microscopic” comes from
• Airborne asbestos particles are microscopic.

Finally, near the end here, we get to the main point of this particular web log, or “blog,” article.  And that is, airborne asbestos is super dangerous because it can sneak up on you.  You can’t see it coming.  (See that one point, above, about airborne asbestos being microscopic.)

But… you also can’t SMELL it coming!  Airborne asbestos has no odor of any kind.  So if you think you smell asbestos in your air, you’re smelling something else.

No, you can’t smell asbestos, like you can a gas leak or other dangerous stuff in your air.  You also can’t feel it, taste it, or hear it.  If you think you’re feeling, tasting, or hearing asbestos in your air, you’re feeling, tasting, or hearing something else.

The only thing you can do is suspect that you might have shards of cancer-causing asbestos in your air, possibly because your teenage daughter tried to hide her faux jewelry expense by tossing the stuff into the fireplace, or because you experienced a house fire, a plumbing mishap, or a bad DIY project.

If you suspect you have asbestos in your air, your best bet is to have the place professionally tested.  We don’t do the testing ourselves – it’s a conflict of interest – and that’s one more thing faithful readers of this web log, or “blog,” are aware of.  But we can refer you to a great testing company, and if they sniff out a problem (so to speak), we’ll do what it takes to make your air asbestos free.  It’s what we do!

The post Do You Know What Asbestos Smells Like? appeared first on Asbestos Abatement, Inc..

If you, or a loved one, has come to believe that asbestos is illegal in the United States, you may be entitled to a significant surprise.

Here are the facts:

• Asbestos WAS banned in the U.S. for about a hot minute, and that was about four decades ago.
• The total ban was lifted in short order, and some intelligent observers have noted that it might be because the industry had some high-powered lobbyists.
• Mining asbestos has remained illegal in the U.S., as well as the manufacture of products containing asbestos.
• However, IMPORTING asbestos-laden products is still perfectly legal in the U.S., and tons and tons of the ugly stuff arrive on American shores every year.

So… we used to say that if you (or a loved one) thought asbestos was totally illegal in America, you should punch yourself in the face.  Jokingly, of course.

(We have never advocated punching loved ones in the face, or anywhere else for that matter.  That’s just very wrong.  However, you might encourage your loved one to practice self-pugilism if they think asbestos is totally illegal in America.  On the other hand, maybe you shouldn’t make that recommendation.)

Again, we USED to say that.  Jokingly, of course.  But now, the joke’s on the asbestos industry!  Because it’s looking like asbestos will be totally banned again in the U.S., and this time a different group of lobbyists seems likely to prevail and get the ban enacted for good.

Why, you ask?  Because asbestos is known to cause cancers for which there are no cures.

But even if the ban comes back, we’re far from finished with our national struggle to rid ourselves of the threats asbestos poses.

Why, you ask?  First, you ask a lot of questions.  But to answer your question, asbestos is all around us right now, thanks to the fact that it’s been legal to import asbestos-laden products into the U.S. for, well, just about forever.

Your home or workplace may well have been constructed with asbestos-containing building materials.  Drywall, ceiling tiles, floor tiles, pipe insulation, and many other materials have been made with asbestos overseas and shipped here over the last many decades.

Before you ask “why” again, we’ll tell you it’s because asbestos was once valued for its flame-retardant capabilities (since it’s basically an ugly rock), AND because it’s cheaper to work with than other materials manufacturers could use.

You don’t have to panic, though.  (Well, go ahead and panic if you like… you just don’t have to.)  Asbestos-containing building materials aren’t dangerous as long as they’re kept undisturbed in their original manufactured state.

Now, if you have a fire at your place (even a small one), or a flood (from a burst pipe, maybe), or a do-it-yourself project that goes horribly awry… those materials could be disturbed, which could result in the asbestos breaking into microscopic shards that impale themselves in your lungs over time.

In fact, asbestos is found in places you wouldn’t expect, from powdered makeup to faux jewelry.  Remember the dust-up (pun intended) that was in all the papers when asbestos was found in baby powder?  You could end up with airborne asbestos from those products, too.

THEN you could panic.

But, rather than panicking, a better move would be to get your place professionally tested for airborne asbestos.  At Asbestos Abatement, Inc., we don’t do the testing (it’s a conflict of interest), but we can recommend a reliable testing company which can determine if you have a problem.

Then, if you do have a problem with airborne asbestos in your home or workplace, you could once-again push the panic button… but, in that case, a far better move would be to give us a call.

We’ll show up with state-of-the art equipment – spacesuits and everything – and keep working away until the air in your place is 100% asbestos free.

Even if asbestos is re-banned, it’s still all around us.  If you suspect you might have a problem with airborne asbestos, give us a call.  We’ll make sure you get the peace-of-mind that comes from knowing your air is free of that cancer-causing ugly stuff.  It will probably cost less than you think.  And no matter what it costs… isn’t the health and lives of you and your family worth it?

The post Even If Asbestos Is Banned AGAIN… … It’s Still All Around Us appeared first on Asbestos Abatement, Inc..

Asbestos Is Near You, All Of The Time

… In Places You Wouldn’t Expect, And In Rhyme

As April is drawing quite near to its end,

The April Fools thing is ‘bout over, my friend.

So don’t be a fool about something profound

Like the ugly asbestos that’s still all around.

Finally, after three decades of dumb,

The EPA’s trying to ban the stuff.  Yum!

They banned it already, way back in the ‘80s,

But soon overturned the ban. Damn them to Hades!

And even though production’s banned in the U.S.,

It’s legal to import this carcinogious mess,

So import it they do!  ‘Cause it’s cheaper to make

Many things with asbestos, for profit’s pure sake.

So you find it in all sorts of weird places,

Like makeup!  You might have asbestos faces!

Anything wherein “talc” is included

Could have asbestos.  Don’t be deluded.

Building materials are probably first

On a list of such products, maybe the worst.

Your wallboards, your floor tiles, your pipe insulation

Could have asbestos, anywhere in the nation.

And that’s not too dangerous, long as the stuff

Is kept undisturbed.  But lo, sure enough,

All it takes is a bad “DIY,”

And BOOM, airborne asbestos!  And you die!

(Okay, you might not die right away,

Or even at all, but you know what they say:

“Better safe than sorry,” of course,

So abatement is better, ‘cause it could be much worse.)

“What’s the big deal?” you might cleverly query;

Well, airborne asbestos is deadly. Be wary.

If, over time, enough you inhale,

Asbestos shards in your lungs do impale…

… And that could mean quite a harsh diagnosis,

Of mesothelioma, or asbestosis.

For these types of cancer there isn’t a cure,

And that’s why we like it when cases are fewer.

From cheap fashion jewelry, the kind teens enjoy,

To makeup, to drywall, to some vintage toys,

Asbestos is there with us, every day,

And it will be years ere the threat’s gone away.

So get your place tested.  Don’t take a chance,

With cancer, or else with the devil you’ll dance!

(Okay, that last part’s a tad bit dramatic,

But: Poetic License!  Don’t give me no static.)

We hope you’ve enjoyed this poetic attempt to present a very serious threat in a light-hearted manner.  You might be tempted to use this in your next open-mic rap routine, and please go ahead… but remember that there’s nothing the least bit amusing about ugly asbestos.  PLEASE, if you have any doubts about a possible asbestos problem, get your place tested.  You know what they say: Better safe than sorry!

The post April Fools post :) appeared first on Asbestos Abatement, Inc..

We got a rather panicky call to our busy switchboard the other day, from a guy we’ll call George.  (His real name is Mark, but we prefer calling him George.)

“I need an asbestos test at my place!” George practically bellowed into the phone.  “Right away!  Yesterday, if possible!”

We needed to soothe George, and calm him down, but we couldn’t comply with his request for three important reasons:

1. We don’t test for asbestos.  It’s a conflict of interest thing.  If a so-called abatement company does the testing, the likelihood is dramatically high that they WILL find something you need to abate.  So we refer testing requests to companies we trust who specialize in testing.
2. Yesterday is a memory, and tomorrow is way too soon anyway.
3. George was hyperventilating, and it was freaking us out a little.

“I’ve been doing some research,” George finally managed.  “I see the federal government is trying to ban asbestos (again – it was banned briefly in the ‘80s), and I wondered why.  So I looked it up, and it turns out asbestos causes mesothelioma!  And that’s incurable!”

True, we said.  We also mentioned that George could’ve been well-versed in the dangers of asbestos if he’d been a loyal reader of this space, which he now is.  Also, we asked why he felt such urgency to get his place tested.

“It’s all around me!” George said.  “Probably!  In my wall boards and floor tiles, in my pipe insulation, even in my teenage daughter’s fake jewelry and tacky makeup!”

True, we said again.  It’s possible you have asbestos-laden building materials throughout your place.  After all, it’s still legal to import asbestos-containing products into the U.S., and tons of the ugly stuff arrive on our shores every year.

First, we suggested, throw away the fake jewelry and makeup (especially if the makeup contains talcum, which is often a traveling companion with asbestos particles).  Then, tell us why you think your home has airborne asbestos.

“Airborne?” George asked.

Yes, we said.  We told George he was correct in understanding why asbestos is dangerous.  When products containing asbestos are disturbed, microscopic shards of asbestos are released into the air which, after enough exposure, cause types of cancer you can’t come back from.

The post Why Asbestos Is Dangerous … And When It Isn’t appeared first on Asbestos Abatement, Inc..

These are happy tears, though.  Happy because, after thirty-plus years since a partial ban on asbestos in the United States was overturned, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has instituted a new regulation banning the ugly stuff altogether.

Chrysotile asbestos, which is pretty-much the only form currently in legal use in the U.S., is going to be phased out of various uses over the next six months to five years.

They use that stuff to (believe it or not) purify water, and to make the chlorine bleach in your laundry room!

Now, don’t weep for me.  I’ll still be in the asbestos abatement business until all of the stuff is gone, and since it’s been included in everything from drywall to pipe insulation for years, the abatement business will be thriving for the foreseeable future.

And don’t be fooled.  Bad drugs like cocaine, fentanyl, heroin, and meth are also illegal in the U.S.  But how much of that ugly stuff still finds its way here?

In addition, there are still some asbestos-containing products that we import, probably without knowing they contain asbestos.  Makeup.  Faux jewelry.  Even some building materials.

Why does this matter?  Because asbestos kills.  It’s the leading cause of some forms of lung cancer (such as mesothelioma) for which there are no cures, and which kill tens of thousands of Americans every year.

Here’s a very-brief History of American Asbestos, to illustrate how we got to this point:

• A hundred-plus years ago, people were far more afraid of fire than of cancer.  Some April Fools (and other fools) would smoke in bed and burn themselves up.
• Asbestos – which is basically a rock – was found to have flame-retardant properties, so everything from floor tiles to electric blankets (really!) started to include asbestos.
• Also, being a rock, asbestos was super-cheap to use in manufacturing.
• People still smoked – just not in bed, so much – and so they started getting diagnosed with lung cancer which was almost always blamed on the tobacco.
• Someone figured out that asbestos, when “disturbed,” flakes off into little microscopic shards that float around unseen and undetected, and after a while, impale themselves in your lungs and don’t let go.
• They also figured out that the type of lung cancer caused by asbestos is a sure death sentence.
• So the federal government enacted a ban on the manufacture and mining of asbestos in the U.S. in 1989 (it’s still illegal to manufacture with asbestos here).
• But in 1991, somebody (lobbyists?) talked them into peeling back the ban on importing asbestos.  So tons of the ugly stuff continued to arrive on our shores every year.
• Even homes built recently have been found to have asbestos in the walls, floors, pipe insulation, etc.
• Now, the EPA has decided to ban the stuff altogether, over the next few years, so things don’t get worse as we work away getting rid of the asbestos we already have – all around us.

I used to quip that you should punch yourself in the face if you thought asbestos was illegal in the United States.  You might still benefit from the type of harsh call to reality that can only be established by facial self-fisticuffs… but soon, if you think asbestos is illegal here, you might actually be right.

You don’t need to be petrified by the presence of asbestos in your home, as long as it’s undisturbed.  But something as seemingly-insignificant as a burst pipe or bad DIY project can put the ugly stuff into your air.  If you think you might have an asbestos problem, your best bet is to get the place tested.  And if you do have a problem, give us a call.  We’ll work until your place is asbestos free.

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… Because You CAN’T Smell Asbestos

If you look (look?) around, you’ll notice there are a lot of things you can smell.

Smell around, and you’ll likely detect:

• Evidence of your teenage kid’s bean-heavy diet
• The hog rendering plant in your neighborhood, if there is one
• Your infant nephew, whenever your sister’s family visits
• The kitchen garbage
• Because you should’ve taken it out about a week ago
• The dog
• Your husband’s coffee breath
• Your wife’s chardonnay breath
• Bus fumes
• Car fumes
• Snowplow fumes
• Other random fumes in the neighborhood
• Cigarette smoke
• Cigar smoke
• Pipe smoke
• Other random smokes in the neighborhood
• Not that there’s anything illegal about that in this state
• The squirrel that died in your garden in September (once it gets warmer)
• Anything else that might have died in your garden
• The cat box
• That cut-rate air freshener your spouse buys, and
• Smog.

Now, none of these smells is particularly pleasant.  In fact, they’re all fairly stinky, maybe not to your nose, but to many noses.

Smelling many of these smells could result in barf.  Which you would also smell.  Sorry.

One important safety note here: If you smell toast, even when there is no toast, you might not barf, but it might be a “phantom smell” which could be a sign of a serious medical condition.  Seek professional help.

(The preceding important safety note is not actually a joke.  And now, back to the blog.)

Speaking of professional help, one thing you absolutely, positively, 100% for-sure can NOT smell is airborne asbestos.  If you think there might be asbestos in your air, you should seek out a professional tester (we can recommend a good one), and have them make sure your air is asbestos-free.

But you can’t smell it.

In fact, since airborne asbestos is microscopic, you can’t see it, taste it, feel it, or hear it, either.  It can lurk there in your air, undetected by the average person, and over time, could cause mesothelioma, an incurable form of cancer.

“So what?” you say.  “Asbestos is illegal, so I don’t have to worry about it.”

If this is your attitude, some professionals might suggest that you punch yourself in the face.

We would never suggest this, but we will kindly point out that while asbestos was illegal in the U.S. for a brief period many years ago, the government reversed course and now it’s legal to import asbestos-laden products.  And tons of such products arrive on our shores every year.

(I wonder if they could smell the lobbyists coming.)

In its solid, manufactured state, asbestos isn’t dangerous.  But it IS all around us, in everything from our wall boards and pipe insulation to our teenage daughter’s cheap powder makeup.  (By the way, confiscate and flush that stuff at your earliest convenience.)

But if it gets “disturbed,” asbestos is a real problem.  All it takes is a small house fire, a broken pipe in the basement, or a DIY project gone bad to release microscopic shards of asbestos into your air.  And once they get into the lungs of your home’s inhabitants, well, that’s something you definitely don’t want.

Don’t take a chance with airborne asbestos.  Get your place professionally tested, and if there’s a problem, we can usually solve it for less than you’d expect.  And nothing smells sweeter than fresh, asbestos-free air!  Though you can’t smell it.

The post Nothing Smells Quite Like Asbestos appeared first on Asbestos Abatement, Inc..

Naturally, we’re all spending our time indoors these days, because, well, it’s freaking cold outside.

That makes this the perfect time of year to get the air in your home tested, just to make sure you don’t have anything like (oh, I don’t know) microscopic ASBESTOS particles floating around in the air you and your family are breathing lots of right now.

Simple things – things you might not think could cause that big a problem – can actually lead to creating some bad-news air in your place:

• Your brother-in-law talks you into letting him remodel your basement.  He demolishes the walls and creates so much drywall dust that it looks like Buffy has been down there slaying a nest of vampires with her handy wooden stake
• You decide to use your woodburning stove or fireplace to create a little festive holiday warmth and cheer.  But one of your sister’s mischievous little toddlers figures out how to close the damper while everyone else is in the other room watching football, and she also throws in a few plastic toys while she’s at it, causing an icky smoke that you can still smell months later
• It got really cold, then warm, and your pipes burst in the basement.  The flood’s been cleaned up, but all the pipe insulation and floor tiles that were affected have since dried out and are now crumbled and dusty, and wheezing that dust into your air a little every day
• Your favorite aunt (well, formerly favorite) comes over to cook you a holiday feast, and she not only burns up the turkey, she lights the pan and part of the wall in your kitchen on fire.  The fire was put out months ago, but you can still smell that smoke
• At the white elephant company holiday party, you end up taking home a surprise “gift” which turns out to be a party favor known as “Can O’ Asbestos Powder,” and when you open it, SURPRISE, it gets all over the living room
• Your teenage daughter inadvertently spills several containers of her talc and powdered makeup all over the guest bathroom, and the cloud of dust from that lingers in the air for about a week.

Yes, with the exception of Number 5 on that list, you might not have any idea that these simple events could cause microscopic asbestos particles to have been released in some quantity into the air you’re breathing.

You might even think asbestos is illegal, so why worry about it?  But while it was completely illegal for a brief period several years ago, it’s perfectly legal to import asbestos-laden products into the U.S., and tons of the stuff arrive here every year.

Many of the building materials used to construct your home are likely to contain asbestos, including wall boards, floor tiles, and pipe insulation.

Those toys the kid burned up?  You don’t know where those came from, do you?  For all you know, they contained asbestos.

And your daughter’s makeup and talcum powder almost certainly contain some level of asbestos contamination.

Asbestos isn’t harmful as long as it’s kept in its solid, manufactured state.  But once it’s “disturbed,” or included in some kind of powder or dust, asbestos breaks into microscopic shards that you can’t see, smell, or feel.  But breathe in enough of those shards over time, and you could have a big problem.

By “big problem,” I mean “mesothelioma,” which is an incurable and fatal form of lung cancer.

If there’s any doubt, get your air tested by a professional.  We can recommend a good one (we don’t do the testing ourselves, since that would be a conflict of interest).  Since you’re spending all your time indoors these days, wouldn’t it be nice to know there’s nothing sneakily deadly hanging around in the air you’re breathing in there?

The post Spending Time Indoors, Keeping Warm? … Better Make Sure You Know What’s In Your Air appeared first on Asbestos Abatement, Inc..

Lead Poisoning From… Kids’ Applesauce Pouches?

… We Wish We Were Making This Up

As you undoubtedly know, asbestos is ugly.  It’s a cancer-causing rock, basically, which is so dangerous it was banned in the U.S. for a short time 40-ish years ago.  Your so-called friends (the ones who aren’t avid readers of this space) probably DON’T know that it’s perfectly legal now.

You can’t mine asbestos or manufacture stuff with it in the U.S., but you can import it, and man, do they ever.  Tons and tons come into our country every year, mostly contained in building materials and (believe it or not) make-up.

And while asbestos is not dangerous in its manufactured form, such as in your wall boards or pipe insulation, once it’s “disturbed,” it breaks into microscopic shards o’death which make the air a carcinogenic hazard.  (If it’s in your talc or makeup, it’s already “disturbed,” which is disturbing!)

If you end up with asbestos in your air, we can take care of that for you.  We can also help get rid of any lead-based paint at your place, which can be equally hazardous, especially if you have little kids who crawl around and find yummy-looking paint chips on the floor.

But we don’t do applesauce.

I wish we were making this up – but some of the products you buy and intentionally feed to your little kids have extremely high levels of lead these days!  The government has found dozens of cases of lead poisoning resulting not from yummy-looking paint chips, but from yummy tasting applesauce pouches.

“You’re kiddin’ me,” you say.

“Nuh uh,” I say.

It turns out a fair number of applesauce pouches for kids, and other similar products, contain cinnamon from Ecuador which has been “adulterated” (to save money) and contains lots of poisonous lead.

How much, you may ask?  The U.S. Food & Drug Administration has found more than two thousand times the safe level of lead in some of these products.  And again, dozens of kids have already been poisoned.

Please look up your kids’ treats, and do enough research to satisfy yourself that none of the products you offer them are on that ugly lead-poisoning list.

We mention it here as a public service to remind you that it’s a dangerous world out there, and by “out there,” we mean maybe on the second shelf of the refrigerator.  So research your kids’ applesauce and fruit pouches – especially the ones flavored with cinnamon – and then go one step further.

Have the air in your place tested for airborne carcinogens – particularly, asbestos.

If you think you might have lead-based paint at your place, get it tested.  And if you’ve had a disturbing event at your place which might’ve created airborne asbestos, get that tested, too.  Because getting rid of those problems costs far less than you probably imagine – and even if it didn’t, you can’t take chances.

A house fire – even a small one – can release airborne asbestos.  A burst pipe in the basement, or a DIY project gone bad – these are also possible culprits.  If you think you could have a problem, give us a call, and we’ll refer you to a top-notch testing company that can give you the honest truth about your air.

(We don’t do the testing ourselves – it’s a conflict of interest.  And if you come across an abatement company that does the testing, or a testing company that offers abatement services, run the other way!  They’re often sure to find an expensive problem, and charge you a pretty penny to fix it.)

Applesauce?  Really?  Yes, it’s a dangerous world, and your friends at Asbestos Abatement, Inc. are here to help you minimize the dangers in your home as much as possible.  It might sound like a joke – but lead poisoning and asbestos contamination are certainly not laughing matters.

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