Your bottle, the one you used for your child, was outlawed last year. No, it was made of asbestos: it was done with a type of plastic that was thought inert and harmless, and yet recent studies have shown that there was some reasonable doubt. The news was all over the papers and TV, but perhaps in a somewhat 'too hasty, and I can not remember the exact name of that type of plastic, but I'm not there to seek him, so this news of this bottle, I just wanted to introduce the discussion on asbestos. Even as asbestos, in fact, it was considered harmless and inert, and for decades, and it is certainly not an isolated case, because of new materials in the twentieth century have been discovered and used a lot.
E 'speech not only the materials but also technologies in use: the question of time, for example, on satellite phones. The only thing certain in the matter is that, at present, there is no evidence of their harmfulness: this does not mean that there are risks, it is possible that a few years they are. In which case, I think nothing will happen and will continue as now to mobile phones we are too fond of, now and then there are the surfers, the smart phone with their apps, how could we ever give it up. In the case of antennas, the antennas of all, to be charged are the magnetic fields that the magnetic fields is shown to be harmful, everything remains to be seen to what extent. After all, our whole body is functioning on the basis of tiny electrical impulses and magnetic fields that may well come from outside interference, there would be nothing unusual.
All this does not apply to asbestos, which in nature is really a mineral in itself inert and harmless. Asbestos is not toxic and even radioactive: the problem is that it breaks into smaller and smaller fragments, like little sharp needles, even dimensions of infinitesimal, invisible to the naked eye. These tiny needles, once inseritisi in our tissues (eg lungs) do not go away anymore, in the long run can cause serious illness. It 's a problem that affects first and foremost those who worked with asbestos: miners and workers, and who lived near to asbestos quarries. Of these people, many are sick and even more were dead. It 's a disease that we see now: it takes time because the disease occurs, and is also for this reason that the danger of asbestos has been undervalued for most of the twentieth century.
The asbestos problem has now become everyone's problem because, being an inert material, was very much used in industry: the suits worn by firefighters (asbestos can be spun, almost like silk and wool, and make tissue: it seems strange but true) thermal insulation of buildings, to cover the roofs. The material that is visible and recognizable is the asbestos cement, concrete and asbestos, which for over twenty years has been used everywhere, especially in construction. The asbestos and asbestos were replaced by other materials, special synthetic fiber for body armor and flame retardant coveralls, fire trucks, and polyurethane foam, or polystyrene panels and building construction. But still, I think that nobody can be totally sure of these new materials: what will happen when the polyurethane, in time, will end up breaking apart? Were full of asbestos, the Twin Towers in New York, and all those who were present in New York in those days, after 11 settembre 2001, hanno certamente respirato amianto. Cosa succederà, lo vedremo.
Che cos’è di preciso l’amianto lo lascio spiegare alla Garzantina della Chimica: facendo clic sull’immagine si dovrebbe poter leggere tutto (non trascrivo perché ci sono le formule chimiche, e Blogger mi cancellerebbe tutte le formattazioni necessarie). Aggiungo solo che, essendo un silicato, l’amianto è un po’ parente del vetro (anche il vetro si può filare, in particolari condizioni); inoltre, per il percorso TAV, il treno ad alta velocità, in Piemonte una delle questioni più dibattute fu proprio questa, l’andare a perforare una zona dove ci sono giacimenti di amianto.
