Asbestos and Fire
Asbestos and Fire
Technological Tradeoffs and the Body at Risk
For much of the industrial era, asbestos was a widely acclaimed benchmark material. During its heyday, it was manufactured into nearly three thousand different products, most of which protected life and property from heat, flame, and electricity. It was used in virtually every industry from hotel keeping to military technology to chemical manufacturing, and was integral to building construction from shacks to skyscrapers in every community across the United States. Beginning in the mid-1960s, however, this once popular mineral began a rapid fall from grace as growing attention to the serious health risks associated with it began to overshadow the protections and benefits it provided.
In this thought-provoking and controversial book, Rachel Maines challenges the recent vilification of asbestos by providing a historical perspective on Americans’ changing perceptions about risk. She suggests that the very success of asbestos and other fire-prevention technologies in containing deadly blazes has led to a sort of historical amnesia about the very risks they were supposed to reduce.
Asbestos and Fire is not only the most thoroughly researched and balanced look at the history of asbestos, it is also an important contribution to a larger debate that considers how the risks of technological solutions should be evaluated. As technology offers us ever-increasing opportunities to protect and prevent, Maines urges that learning to accept and effectively address the unintended consequences of technological innovations is a growing part of our collective responsibility.
Against a backdrop in which the mere mention of 'asbestos' strikes fear, Rachel Maines reminds readers of the valuable role asbestos has played as an insulating and fire-stopping material. She shows the complexity of technological solutions through the example of asbestos: how and why a material developed for the purpose of saving lives was withdrawn from the market when its risks were perceived to outweigh its benefits. Anyone wanting to know about the history of asbestos use will find this book to be an excellent reference.
For anyone interested in the history of health and safety this is a book worth reading.
'Asbestos and Fire adds a highly useful volume to the growing shelf of books that tell the 'life story' of industrial materials that build, support, and also sometimes imperil modern life.'
'Asbestos and Fire adds a highly useful volume to the growing shelf of books that tell the 'life story' of industrial materials that build, support, and also sometimes imperil modern life.'
For anyone interested in the history of health and safety this is a book worth reading.
Against a backdrop in which the mere mention of 'asbestos' strikes fear, Rachel Maines reminds readers of the valuable role asbestos has played as an insulating and fire-stopping material. She shows the complexity of technological solutions through the example of asbestos: how and why a material developed for the purpose of saving lives was withdrawn from the market when its risks were perceived to outweigh its benefits. Anyone wanting to know about the history of asbestos use will find this book to be an excellent reference.
Tables
Preface
1 The Asbestos Technology Decision Environment
2 Asbestos before 1880: From Natural Wonder to Industrial Material
3 The Rise of the Asbestos Curtain
4 Mass Destruction by Fire: Asbestos in World War II
5 Schools, Homes, and Workplaces: Fire Prevention in the Postwar Built Environment
6 The Asbestos Tort Conflagration
Appendix A: Some Asbestos End-Uses in the United States, 1850-1990
Appendix B: Selected List of Organizations Specifying Asbestos in Codes, Standards or Recommendations, 1880-1980
Notes
Index
