Before we left town though, we had to drive by Ak Dovurak's claim to fame- the world's largest...... Asbestos mine! What the? Yes, asbestos is still used in the non-western world, as it is fire retardent and used in rooves. Hmmm, to live in Ak Dovurak. I have friends that did this when they first came to Tuva. Very brave.
3 comments:
Did you know that asbestos is still mined in Sask.? A news article a few days ago brought up the topic of whether it should be shut down or not.
Wendy J
Apparently it is only in the dust stage it is dangerous, so once installed it's ok. However it only takes one fibre to lodge in the lungs to lead to asbestosis - a bit risky I should think. Next door neighbours to mum and dad had asbestos removed and we were not allowed within 10 metres during that time, nor for 4 hours after!!
BTW, on a linguistic note. rooves, while the standard pronunciation of the plural, is a disputed written form. The standard written form (at least in Aust. Eng.) is roofs. (Not that, as a descriptivist, it really matters) ;-)
Further to the asbestos note, I'm sure you're aware there is actually a town in Russia called Asbest.
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