My friend, TOpoet and I share a fascination for life’s oddities. He pointed me to this horrific product that was released to unsuspecting consumers in the late 1920s and finally discontinued around 1941. You could sprinkle this sh*t throughout your house and on your tree for Christmas and bonus – it wouldn’t catch on fire.
For generations, asbestos, a naturally occurring fibrous mineral, was thought to be a miracle product. It stood up to weather (asbestos tiles), it had great insulating properties (pipe lagging) and it was fire-proof (coating on steel beams). Too bad this innocuous fluffy grey material kills you!
Asbestos does you in in one of three ways: asbestosis, lung cancer and worst of all, mesothelioma, a cancer of the pleura. Mesothelioma, a 100% fatal disease, is only caused by asbestos. Electron micrograph images show the hardy little microfibers spearing your cells and your DNA. It was the cause of death of Hollywood star, Steve McQueen, who was exposed to it when he worked in the shipyards during WW2.
According to Snopes, asbestos snow was used in the 1939 classic film, “The Wizard of Oz”. Remember the scene where Dorothy and her friends are awakened from the Wicked Witch of the West’s spell in the poppy field by a snow fall? Yep, that’s asbestos snow!
Warning: vintage decorations with “snow” dating from the 1920 to 1940s may contain asbestos. Better living through chemisty – NOT!
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