October 29, 2025 • 10 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, asbestos began as a miracle. It could resist heat and strengthen concrete, and it seemed to promise safety in every home and factory it touched. For decades, people believed it was the key to a safer modern world. Then the coughing started, and the walls themselves became a threat. The History Guy shares the story of asbestos from its first mining to its slow discovery as a killer hidden in plain sight.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is our American Stories, and we tell stories about
everything here on this show, and our favorite and his
stories about our past history stories. Our next comes to
us from a man who's simply known as the History Guy.
His videos are watched by hundreds of thousands of people
of all ages on YouTube. The History Guy has also
(00:30):
heard here on Our American Stories. Today, we know asbestos
to be a health hazard, but the natural mineral was
not simply an artifact of the Industrial Age. Here's the
History Guy telling us the story of asbestos.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Today, asbestos is pretty much singly known as something dangerous
that used to be used in building materials. Billions of
dollars are spent in asbestos abatement, and ads play on
television offering legal help to people who've been exposed to asbestos.
If you have an all or home, you might worry
about whether there's asbestos in your home. Asbestos became so
popular and used during the Industrial era that we sometimes
(01:07):
forget that it's not a new invention. It's a naturally
occurring mineral and one that has a surprisingly long history
with humanity. Asbestos has been used in production for at
least four thousand years, and before it became known as
a notorious killer, it had a very different reputation. The
surprisingly long human relationship with asbestos is history that deserves
(01:29):
to be remembered. Asbestos is an umbrella term that refers
to six different naturally occurring silicate minerals composed of thin,
fibrous crystals. The fibers are made up of even smaller
pieces called fibrils, which can be as small as a
single micron in length. The most commonly used type is
called chrysolite or white asbestos, which makes up about ninety
(01:49):
five percent of the asbestos in most products, but a
number of other kinds are recognized, including brown and blue asbestos.
It functions naturally as an electric insulator, It is highly
resistant to hear, eats, chemically in nerd and its strengthens
on the materials when mixed. In Greek, the substance we
now call asbestos was originally called amiantos, meaning undefiled, because
it showed no mark it was thrown into a fire.
(02:12):
In its modern use, the word asbestos was first used
in the sixteen hundreds. Use of asbestus, however, goes back
much further than that, forty five hundred years ago. In
East Finland, ancient people mixed asbestos into their clay, which
strengthened the pots while allowing them to have thinner walls
and adding heat resistance. The ancient Egyptians wrapped farrows in
asbestos cloth to prevent deterioration. Greek historian Herodotus and plinyat
(02:36):
both mentioned using asbestos cloths in cremations to wrap the
body and keep the body's ashes separate from the fires.
Many cultures use asbestos to make napkins, table cloths, and clothes.
More than one writer made the same observation as the
Greek historian Stravo, who said that these cloths were thrown
into the fire and cleansed, just as linens are cleansed
by washing. The fibers were also used as insulation for
(02:58):
homes and ovens, can be used to make candlewigs that
don't burn away, and was used in the asbestos Lentinis
golden lamp that, according to one traveler, only needed to
be refilled once a year. Even ancient writers recorded troubling
things about asbestos. Both Pliny and Strabo mentioned that slaves
that mind the mineral suffered from diseases of the lungs,
and it was said that cory slaves died young. Pliny
(03:21):
called it a slave disease, and even described goat or
lamb ladders being used as respirators. Despite these observations, they
never really truly understood the risks of the mineral. Asbestos
contended to be used throughout the world throughout the Middle Ages,
though it seems to have declined somewhat. Charlemagne, first emperor
of the Holy Roman Empire, was said to have had
an asbestos tablecloth that he impressed dinner against wess by
(03:44):
tossing it into the fire at the end of the meal.
In the early modern period, scientists turned to the utility
of asbestos. Research into the material exploded. Starting in the
seventeenth century. Benjamin Franklin cared an isbestus coinpers with him
in his youth so that the money would never burn
a hole in his pocket. He sold it in seventeen
twenty four to the eventual benefactor of the British Museum.
(04:06):
Giovanni Aldini, known for his experiments using electricity to move
the muscles of cadavers, invented a line of fireproof filding
for firefighters in the early eighteen hundreds, which became popular
in places like Paris and Geneva. Asbestos stage curtains were
credited with saving lives in theater fires, and others suggested
making an indestructible book of eternity of asbestos paper. Possibly
(04:27):
the most important use for asbestos were in construction. Mixing
with rubber created a fire resistant compound that allowed far
more resilient steam gaskets, vitally important advancing steam engines and boilers.
In the eighteen sixties, Henry Ward Johns created an asbestos
tar paper for roofs, which could protect buildings from fire.
Was this invention that began to truly open markets for
the product. Asbestos was perfect for the industrial age, versatile
(04:52):
and easily added to other materials. It was mixed into
cement and wood to create fireproof ships, and included in
all kinds of plastic items. Increa strengthened as a binder,
it would become a staple of the flooring industry. In
viinal asbestos tile so widely used as insulation of pipes,
water heaters, and engines, especially in trains and ships, which
used the product extensively. Was even used to make jews,
(05:13):
filters and breathing apparatuses. As the mangru production had to
match it. The first industrial asbestos mine was opened in
the Thetford Hills of Quebec in the late eighteen seventies,
and thriving industries also blossomed in Germany, England, South Africa,
Australia and Finland. It quickly became mechanized, and by nineteen
hundred there were more than thirty thousand tons being produced annually.
(05:35):
It was in the late eighteen hundreds and early nineteen
hundreds that medical professionals started to notice health issues connected
to asbestos. In eighteen ninety seven, a doctor in Austria
attributed patient's breathing problems to breathing asbestos, and an eighteen
ninety eight report by the British government cited widespread damage
and injury of the lungs due to the dusting surrounding
of the asbestos mill. The first confirmed death from asbestosis
(05:57):
was reported in England in nineteen oh six by doctor
Montaghume Murray. Murray performed an autopsy on a thirty three
year old patient and found large amounts of asbestos fibers
in his lungs. Across Europe, other reports of deaths from
fibrosis were reported insurance companies were aware of the dangers too,
and as early as nineteen oh eight they'd decreased coverage
and increased premiums for workers in the factories that used asbestos.
(06:19):
Asbestosis is the damage caused of the lungs by tiny
asbestos fibers. The scarring within the lungs hindrance oxygen for
being transferred to the blood. Can take time for the
symptoms to present because lungs have a kind of excess capacity,
but once this excess is gone, the symptoms grow worse
very quickly. Before it was understood, the symptoms were often
missed because it was often seen in conjunction with tuberculosis
(06:41):
and pneumonia. In twenty four the death of Nellie Kershaw,
who had worked spinning asbestus into yarn, led to an
inquest in which the pathologist Edmund Cook identified minerals found
in Kersha's lungs as the primary cause of the fibrosis
of the lungs and therefore of death. Because of these
and other cases, Edward Rowland Allworth Meriweather decided to study
(07:01):
asbestus workers in textile factories. A full quarter of the
workers were suffering from asbestosis and those who had worked
longer were sicker. The report underlined the seriousness of the disease,
and within a year legislation was passed in the UK
to make efforts to reduce asbestos dust and require medical
screenings for employees. Meriweather felt that the study meant asbestos
(07:21):
workers faced inevitable death. The study was published simultaneously in
the United States and became the most prominent study proven
the danger of asbestos. The warning signs couldn't slow the
industry production triple between nineteen hundred and nineteen ten, and
in the late nineteen thirties, asbestos was already massively popular.
In nineteen thirty nine, the Johns Manviil Company built an
(07:42):
ASBESTUS Mayan protecting Mankind's buildings for display at that year's
World's Fair. The growing tensions of World War II caused
countries to stockpile US best Is for fear of disruptions
in production, and the US asbestos was used in almost
every facet of the war effort. Bazukas ge p engines,
torpedoes and ship engines. All US used asbestos. Even army
medics carried as an easily sterilized dressing use in American
(08:05):
shipyards led to high rates of lung cancer and mesothelioma
in shipbuilders. US asbestos consumption grew astronomically during the war.
In nineteen forty two, the US was consuming sixty percent
of the world's production from thirty seven percent just five
years earlier. Meanwhile, the use of ASBESTUS in the United
States actually reached its peak in the post warriors. In
(08:25):
Europe and Japan, asbestos was used widely in the construction
necessary to rebuild war to ourn nations, while in the
US the practical uses of ASBESTUS mean it became an
integral part of thousands of products put into brake paths
and cars and elevators, used in hair dryers, air conditioners,
electric insulation. Fake snow includes that use on the set
of The Wizard of Oz, surgical thread, irons in the
(08:45):
filters of kint micronite cigarettes, and even as an abrasive
in toothpaste. But the consensus that the product was dangerous
continued to grow. Multiple reports connected to occurrences of several
kinds of cancers, and in nineteen sixty four, doctor Irving
selicop Is in a finding that deaths that a New
Jersey asbestos factory were twenty five percent higher than would
be expected statistically. The peak of asbestis consumption in the
(09:08):
US was reached in nineteen seventy three. By the nineteen sixties,
growing understanding that even small amounts of exposure could cause
serious health effects finally began to take a toll on
public opinion. The Environmental Protection Agency, created in nineteen seventy
became the crusader. In nineteen seventy three, it banned spray
on asbestos for insulating and fireproofing purposes. The seventies would
(09:28):
also see them ban asbestos in cement pipes, artificial fire embers,
and wall patching compounds. In the eighties, it required schools
to document asbestos and remove it if dangerous to protect
children and teachers, though the cost of abatement was sometimes prohibitive.
In nineteen eighty nine, the EPA created the ban and
phase out Rule, which would have eventually led to a
complete band of asbestos containing material. The last asbestos mind
(09:51):
the United States closed in two thousand and three, and
still the legacy of asbestos exposure looms large. Were an
estimated quarter million people U die from complications due to
asbestos exposure mostly from cancers like mesothelioma, and what was
once touted as the miracle mineral that could solve almost
any problem has now become the enemy.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
And especial thanks to Greg Hengler as always for his
production and you can find the History Guy's storytelling on YouTube.
Just just search History Guy on the YouTube search bar
and you'll find all of his work. The Story of
Asbestos from a miracle compound to the doghouse a terrific
story of what things were and what they are now
(10:33):
and how many better and safer ways we have to
do things thanks to the miracles of modern manufacturing. The
story of asbestos here on our American Story
This is our American Stories, and we tell stories about
everything here on this show, and our favorite and his
stories about our past history stories. Our next comes to
us from a man who's simply known as the History Guy.
His videos are watched by hundreds of thousands of people
of all ages on YouTube. The History Guy has also
(00:30):
heard here on Our American Stories. Today, we know asbestos
to be a health hazard, but the natural mineral was
not simply an artifact of the Industrial Age. Here's the
History Guy telling us the story of asbestos.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Today, asbestos is pretty much singly known as something dangerous
that used to be used in building materials. Billions of
dollars are spent in asbestos abatement, and ads play on
television offering legal help to people who've been exposed to asbestos.
If you have an all or home, you might worry
about whether there's asbestos in your home. Asbestos became so
popular and used during the Industrial era that we sometimes
(01:07):
forget that it's not a new invention. It's a naturally
occurring mineral and one that has a surprisingly long history
with humanity. Asbestos has been used in production for at
least four thousand years, and before it became known as
a notorious killer, it had a very different reputation. The
surprisingly long human relationship with asbestos is history that deserves
(01:29):
to be remembered. Asbestos is an umbrella term that refers
to six different naturally occurring silicate minerals composed of thin,
fibrous crystals. The fibers are made up of even smaller
pieces called fibrils, which can be as small as a
single micron in length. The most commonly used type is
called chrysolite or white asbestos, which makes up about ninety
(01:49):
five percent of the asbestos in most products, but a
number of other kinds are recognized, including brown and blue asbestos.
It functions naturally as an electric insulator, It is highly
resistant to hear, eats, chemically in nerd and its strengthens
on the materials when mixed. In Greek, the substance we
now call asbestos was originally called amiantos, meaning undefiled, because
it showed no mark it was thrown into a fire.
(02:12):
In its modern use, the word asbestos was first used
in the sixteen hundreds. Use of asbestus, however, goes back
much further than that, forty five hundred years ago. In
East Finland, ancient people mixed asbestos into their clay, which
strengthened the pots while allowing them to have thinner walls
and adding heat resistance. The ancient Egyptians wrapped farrows in
asbestos cloth to prevent deterioration. Greek historian Herodotus and plinyat
(02:36):
both mentioned using asbestos cloths in cremations to wrap the
body and keep the body's ashes separate from the fires.
Many cultures use asbestos to make napkins, table cloths, and clothes.
More than one writer made the same observation as the
Greek historian Stravo, who said that these cloths were thrown
into the fire and cleansed, just as linens are cleansed
by washing. The fibers were also used as insulation for
(02:58):
homes and ovens, can be used to make candlewigs that
don't burn away, and was used in the asbestos Lentinis
golden lamp that, according to one traveler, only needed to
be refilled once a year. Even ancient writers recorded troubling
things about asbestos. Both Pliny and Strabo mentioned that slaves
that mind the mineral suffered from diseases of the lungs,
and it was said that cory slaves died young. Pliny
(03:21):
called it a slave disease, and even described goat or
lamb ladders being used as respirators. Despite these observations, they
never really truly understood the risks of the mineral. Asbestos
contended to be used throughout the world throughout the Middle Ages,
though it seems to have declined somewhat. Charlemagne, first emperor
of the Holy Roman Empire, was said to have had
an asbestos tablecloth that he impressed dinner against wess by
(03:44):
tossing it into the fire at the end of the meal.
In the early modern period, scientists turned to the utility
of asbestos. Research into the material exploded. Starting in the
seventeenth century. Benjamin Franklin cared an isbestus coinpers with him
in his youth so that the money would never burn
a hole in his pocket. He sold it in seventeen
twenty four to the eventual benefactor of the British Museum.
(04:06):
Giovanni Aldini, known for his experiments using electricity to move
the muscles of cadavers, invented a line of fireproof filding
for firefighters in the early eighteen hundreds, which became popular
in places like Paris and Geneva. Asbestos stage curtains were
credited with saving lives in theater fires, and others suggested
making an indestructible book of eternity of asbestos paper. Possibly
(04:27):
the most important use for asbestos were in construction. Mixing
with rubber created a fire resistant compound that allowed far
more resilient steam gaskets, vitally important advancing steam engines and boilers.
In the eighteen sixties, Henry Ward Johns created an asbestos
tar paper for roofs, which could protect buildings from fire.
Was this invention that began to truly open markets for
the product. Asbestos was perfect for the industrial age, versatile
(04:52):
and easily added to other materials. It was mixed into
cement and wood to create fireproof ships, and included in
all kinds of plastic items. Increa strengthened as a binder,
it would become a staple of the flooring industry. In
viinal asbestos tile so widely used as insulation of pipes,
water heaters, and engines, especially in trains and ships, which
used the product extensively. Was even used to make jews,
(05:13):
filters and breathing apparatuses. As the mangru production had to
match it. The first industrial asbestos mine was opened in
the Thetford Hills of Quebec in the late eighteen seventies,
and thriving industries also blossomed in Germany, England, South Africa,
Australia and Finland. It quickly became mechanized, and by nineteen
hundred there were more than thirty thousand tons being produced annually.
(05:35):
It was in the late eighteen hundreds and early nineteen
hundreds that medical professionals started to notice health issues connected
to asbestos. In eighteen ninety seven, a doctor in Austria
attributed patient's breathing problems to breathing asbestos, and an eighteen
ninety eight report by the British government cited widespread damage
and injury of the lungs due to the dusting surrounding
of the asbestos mill. The first confirmed death from asbestosis
(05:57):
was reported in England in nineteen oh six by doctor
Montaghume Murray. Murray performed an autopsy on a thirty three
year old patient and found large amounts of asbestos fibers
in his lungs. Across Europe, other reports of deaths from
fibrosis were reported insurance companies were aware of the dangers too,
and as early as nineteen oh eight they'd decreased coverage
and increased premiums for workers in the factories that used asbestos.
(06:19):
Asbestosis is the damage caused of the lungs by tiny
asbestos fibers. The scarring within the lungs hindrance oxygen for
being transferred to the blood. Can take time for the
symptoms to present because lungs have a kind of excess capacity,
but once this excess is gone, the symptoms grow worse
very quickly. Before it was understood, the symptoms were often
missed because it was often seen in conjunction with tuberculosis
(06:41):
and pneumonia. In twenty four the death of Nellie Kershaw,
who had worked spinning asbestus into yarn, led to an
inquest in which the pathologist Edmund Cook identified minerals found
in Kersha's lungs as the primary cause of the fibrosis
of the lungs and therefore of death. Because of these
and other cases, Edward Rowland Allworth Meriweather decided to study
(07:01):
asbestus workers in textile factories. A full quarter of the
workers were suffering from asbestosis and those who had worked
longer were sicker. The report underlined the seriousness of the disease,
and within a year legislation was passed in the UK
to make efforts to reduce asbestos dust and require medical
screenings for employees. Meriweather felt that the study meant asbestos
(07:21):
workers faced inevitable death. The study was published simultaneously in
the United States and became the most prominent study proven
the danger of asbestos. The warning signs couldn't slow the
industry production triple between nineteen hundred and nineteen ten, and
in the late nineteen thirties, asbestos was already massively popular.
In nineteen thirty nine, the Johns Manviil Company built an
(07:42):
ASBESTUS Mayan protecting Mankind's buildings for display at that year's
World's Fair. The growing tensions of World War II caused
countries to stockpile US best Is for fear of disruptions
in production, and the US asbestos was used in almost
every facet of the war effort. Bazukas ge p engines,
torpedoes and ship engines. All US used asbestos. Even army
medics carried as an easily sterilized dressing use in American
(08:05):
shipyards led to high rates of lung cancer and mesothelioma
in shipbuilders. US asbestos consumption grew astronomically during the war.
In nineteen forty two, the US was consuming sixty percent
of the world's production from thirty seven percent just five
years earlier. Meanwhile, the use of ASBESTUS in the United
States actually reached its peak in the post warriors. In
(08:25):
Europe and Japan, asbestos was used widely in the construction
necessary to rebuild war to ourn nations, while in the
US the practical uses of ASBESTUS mean it became an
integral part of thousands of products put into brake paths
and cars and elevators, used in hair dryers, air conditioners,
electric insulation. Fake snow includes that use on the set
of The Wizard of Oz, surgical thread, irons in the
(08:45):
filters of kint micronite cigarettes, and even as an abrasive
in toothpaste. But the consensus that the product was dangerous
continued to grow. Multiple reports connected to occurrences of several
kinds of cancers, and in nineteen sixty four, doctor Irving
selicop Is in a finding that deaths that a New
Jersey asbestos factory were twenty five percent higher than would
be expected statistically. The peak of asbestis consumption in the
(09:08):
US was reached in nineteen seventy three. By the nineteen sixties,
growing understanding that even small amounts of exposure could cause
serious health effects finally began to take a toll on
public opinion. The Environmental Protection Agency, created in nineteen seventy
became the crusader. In nineteen seventy three, it banned spray
on asbestos for insulating and fireproofing purposes. The seventies would
(09:28):
also see them ban asbestos in cement pipes, artificial fire embers,
and wall patching compounds. In the eighties, it required schools
to document asbestos and remove it if dangerous to protect
children and teachers, though the cost of abatement was sometimes prohibitive.
In nineteen eighty nine, the EPA created the ban and
phase out Rule, which would have eventually led to a
complete band of asbestos containing material. The last asbestos mind
(09:51):
the United States closed in two thousand and three, and
still the legacy of asbestos exposure looms large. Were an
estimated quarter million people U die from complications due to
asbestos exposure mostly from cancers like mesothelioma, and what was
once touted as the miracle mineral that could solve almost
any problem has now become the enemy.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
And especial thanks to Greg Hengler as always for his
production and you can find the History Guy's storytelling on YouTube.
Just just search History Guy on the YouTube search bar
and you'll find all of his work. The Story of
Asbestos from a miracle compound to the doghouse a terrific
story of what things were and what they are now
(10:33):
and how many better and safer ways we have to
do things thanks to the miracles of modern manufacturing. The
story of asbestos here on our American Story
Host
Lee Habeeb
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