Mesothelioma, a dreadful disease brought on by exposure to asbestos. That is what the ads say and there is even a new ad featuring Erin Brokivich, yammering on about greedy corporations who value profits above human lives. Trial lawyers have made untold millions suing corporations that had some connection, however tenous to some human exposure to asbestos.
It didn't matter that those corporations may have had no idea that asbestos was dangerous to humans. It didn't matter is the company being sued had purchased a now defunct company that had some asbestos in their history. The only thing that mattered was could a "victim" be found and did the corporation have sufficiently deep pockets to make the suit worth the while of an attorney.
This litigious feeding frenzy made any type of asbestos radioactive. Once the health problems associated with asbestos were fully identified safe formulas were created but treated with suspicion. Builders were so concerned of some future harm being caused by the new asbestos they avoided using it whenever possible.
Consequently, the steel girders holding up the World Trade Center were not coated with this flame retardant product above, well, I forget above exactly which floor but clearly not high up enough. Now, Rosie and other assorted nut cases may choose to believe that fire cannot melt steel and indulge in the conspiracy du jour. They must have missed the explanation of the process detailed in Popular Mechanics.
The Twin Towers fell because the fire weakened the steel girders enough that they could no longer support the floors above the fire. When the weight of those floors struck they took the rest of the towers down and vaporized most of the people and things inside. Perhaps, if those girders had been coated in asbestos as had been the policy of the past they may have survived.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment