Investigation Finds Asbestos Fibers in Crayons and Toys from China

asbestosnataion.org: http://www.asbestosnation.org/facts/tests-find-asbestos-in-kids-crayons-crime-scene-kits/

Wait- asbestos kills 15,000 Americans a year?! Is that true??

Nice. Another panic piece that treats asbestos as if it were something like plutonium.

tjohn said:
Nice. Another panic piece that treats asbestos as if it were something like plutonium.

+1. For litigators of course it is not plutonium but gold.

The "fingerprint kit powder" gives me pause because it could be made airborne I suppose, but the kid would need a lot of exposure to cause a problem. That said, it should be avoided but isn't something to obsessively worry about if the kid already played with it. Throw it out, do a good clean up with a wet rag (not a vacuum).

I trust the ChiComs not at all, don't get me wrong. I won't eat farm raised sea food from China, period, for example. The melamine in baby formula scandal sort of settled the issue for me

I agree with you regarding concerns about items manufactured in China - not a lot of oversight.

I would worry more about the factory workers in China who are exposed to far more fibers than ever end up in the crayons... and lots of other things. They must be ingesting tons of the stuff.

Of course Crayola would say this: Contaminated crayons could release microscopic asbestos fibers as children use them. According to Crayola

Used to have a lot more respect for the EWG, but their 'style' is getting to me - not everything is a cause for a full blown panic attack. And yes, I still use the sunblock they rated as worst. When I run out, I'll check their list. May not buy the brands they list as best, mainly because they are incredibly expensive...

And thankfully, my mother and her siblings are all still alive and in their 70s & 80s.

I mention this because my grandfather worked in the Navy shipyards.

Sadly, he died from asbestos exposure.

However, because they were poor, my grandmother didn't wash his clothes every night - just shook them out. Yes, shook out asbestos covered clothes with 4 kids in the house.

My mother and at least one of her siblings has calcifications in her lungs from her body's reaction to the fibers. Not cancer. Her body covered the fibers to protect itself.

So, you may want to did a bit deeper into claims that asbestos exposure leads to cancer...