The BBC has a very odd statement upon their website today:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/



...and they appear to be trying to confuse the issue here...ASBESTOS as we know it today...is a highly dangerous chemical compound...which turned into MELTED PLASTIC when BEN GRAHAM and his associates blew a hole in the CHEMISTRY classroom at LANGLEY SENIORS...

Okay so if one 'goes back far enough'....one could say that NYLON is 'natural' because it is made from 'natural elements' which are 'treated' to form new chemical compounds ...but that would be stupid, wouldn't it?

So all one can say is that an ill firm used the GREEK word 'asbestos' in order to make this highly toxic and dangerous chemical compound that they had created sound as if it were 'natural'...but luckily nobody believed that one...mainly because it wasn't true.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asbestos

...and if you look at the story of the LITTLE BLUE MEN FROM OUTER SPACE in DITKO who need to breath in SAND/SILICATE in order to live, in order to go a PINK AND HEALTHY COLOUR and look HUMANOID again...you begin to wonder what the hell this is all about...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Blue_Asbestos

Australian Blue Asbestos Pty. Ltd. (ABA) was a company founded by Lang Hancock, operated between the years (1938–1966) responsible for the mining, bagging and distribution of blue asbestos or crocidolite, in Wittenoom, in northern Western Australia. The operation, purchased in 1943 by CSR Limited, was operated as a subsidiary until its closure in 1966. Due to litigation brought about by workers about the effects of inhalation of airborne fibres of blue asbestos, the company was forced to close. It was alleged that ABA was negligent in its behaviour in that, with respect to the workers, families and residents of Wittenoom, the company willingly knew that conditions were well below standard and that dust levels exceeded accepted levels of the day.[1]

Asbestos

Blue asbestos is possibly 100 times more hazardous than white asbestos, as the fibres are much smaller (around 2.5 to 10 micrometres)[2]. The inhalation of asbestos results in illness and in most cases death, due to asbestosis, mesothelioma (of which asbestos is the only known cause) and other lung diseases.[1] This aetiology was described, reported and explained to the management of ABA as well as being the subject of many medical journal articles.

The asbestos fibre count at the mine and other facilities was regularly measured at 1000 parts per cm3 or more. This is in stark contrast to the health department guidelines of the 1950s that required less than 176 parts per cm3. By 1967 the 'safe' level of asbestos was limited to 5 parts per cm3.