Let it snow, but please hold the asbestos. I read with interest David Reamer’s recent article detailing the many strange ways moviemakers have tried to reproduce snow in film-making — including using asbestos in consumer “snow” products for home holiday decorations and on movie sets. It’s white, it’s fluffy and can look like the real deal. But as Mr. Reamer pointed out, it’s also deadly and is a known human carcinogen.
Having recently retired from the EPA as the agency’s regional asbestos contact, my job included taking many thousands of complaints and calls over the years from people worried about potential exposure and from contractors doing asbestos removal projects and demolitions. I inspected these types of projects and the landfills that accepted the waste. What these projects had in common was the sheer variety of materials that asbestos was used in. Fake snow on movie sets ranks up there with some of the stranger uses I’ve encountered. From floor tiles to ceiling texture, paint, theater curtains, window putty, cement siding and pipe insulation, these materials when tested were shown to contain asbestos. Safely handling these materials takes time, money and labor. When handled properly, the public is protected from exposure. When mishandled, the opposite is also true.
Earlier this year, EPA (finally) announced a ban on ongoing uses of chrysotile asbestos, the most common variety of this naturally occurring mineral. I hope that with asbestos no longer imported and used in products, it will become less likely for all of us to come into contact with it.
— John Pavitt
Anchorage
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