Asbestos Pollution 

 Optional outside reading

  Miller, p. 272

  Assigned online reading

  About Asbestos -- What is asbestos, how is it used, and why is it dangerous?  (tutorial by T. Detwyler)  [1,300 words] 

  Selling asbestos abroad  [2,300 words]

  Video shown in class

  "Toxics and Human Health" -- The example discussed here is trichloroethylene, or TCE.  The video will be shown in lecture; you may also view it on the web via a computer on the UWSP network (modems from off-campus are too slow).  (29 minutes)

  Questions to answer concerning asbestos:

1.  What important qualities of asbestos have led it to be called "the magic mineral" or "the mineral of a thousand uses"?  Which of these qualities also make asbestos injurious to humans, and how?

2.  What serious diseases can asbestos cause?

3.  Who is most at risk from asbestos?

4.  Briefly, why are Americans still plagued by asbestos, so long after its killing effects became known?

5.  Why and how has the Asbestos Institute promoted the foreign use of Canadian asbestos?

Optional resources concerning asbestos

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Thomas Detwyler maintains this page (tdetwyle@uwsp.edu)
Last updated 8 June 2001