• chronicledmonocle@lemmy.world
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    8 hours ago

    To be clear here: This is reversing a ban on ONE type of asbestos that’s often used in automotive parts (such as brake pads). They’re not advocating for us to bring it back for things like loose fill insulation, building materials, etc.

    Also, to be clear: It’s still stupid and likely a combination of Russia being the largest producer of Asbestos and/or Trump having an obsession with overturning Biden-era rulings.

    • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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      8 hours ago

      Trump actually has a personal fascination with asbestos and thinks it’s a miracle material. He’s talked about it a lot in his speeches.

      • chronicledmonocle@lemmy.world
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        8 hours ago

        It does have some excellent use cases. Asbestos tile was probably everywhere you walked in school and is extremely durable and perfectly safe (unless you cut it with a saw). My house is covered in asbestos siding and is basically unphased in appearance since it was installed in 1964 by the Texas sun.

        However, any situation where it can cause it to be airborne, such as brake pads, insulation, etc. is no bueno. It’s a kind of incredible material IN VERY SPECIFIC USE CASES.

        Like most materials science, there are tradeoffs. R22 was a great refrigerant compared to R410a or the newer R32 that required way less pressure to be effective, but it also burned holes in the atmosphere, hence it isn’t used anymore. Asbestos is an incredible material, but so is flurooantiminic acid and I wouldn’t want it anywhere near me.

        • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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          5 hours ago

          Right, but Trump thinks it’s magic. I suspect he saw a demonstration of the material by some construction company (he is a real estate guy) and it blew his mind.

          And now we get asbestos brake pads.