TentaBat

It’s old knowledge that, unless you’re involved in mining, mineralogy, or occupational health & safety, has been deliberately buried from both the public’s and regulators’ knowledge.

CNBC’s article + their writeup on the Reuters report revealing J&J’s cover-ups go into more detail on their corporate liability and the impact of J&J’s products specifically…

…But I cannot overstate that people’s best option right now is to look for products in general that do not contain talc at all, regardless of the manufacturer, and to be vigilant in seeking appropriate healthcare (and/or legal action if required) if symptoms arise.

This goes for body use (diaper powder, chafing powder— this is where the cases of ovarian cancer are coming from), for any use where powder may be inhaled (hair, face), or will have prolonged exposure to mucus membranes (eye makeup, bath bombs, etc.).

Short version: this is fucked up and not okay.

HOWEVER. The evidence is that the asbestos was “trace amounts” where it existed. And I know they teach you to think otherwise, specifically because people were too casual about asbestos exposure, but the truth is that asbestos danger is cumulative. The more you’re exposed to, the worse it is.

Technically, one fibre is enough. But in reality, one exposure to one fibre is very, very unlikely to mess you up. Your body is very good at getting rid of things that want to kill you. The much greater danger is if you are exposed day in and day out to large amounts, particularly if you smoke. Asbestos exposure and cigarette smoke behave synergistically, the risk of doing both is much much worse than just adding your risks together.

Other facts: asbestos is naturally occurring in the environment; that’s how the contamination occurred to begin with. It’s a rock. Australia has huge amounts of naturally occurring asbestos, so low level constant exposure, but it’s not a significant health risk. This is partially because (extra important fact) only asbestos fibres of a certain length are actually dangerous. From memory they have to be between five and nine micrometers long to get stuck in your lungs the dangerous way (my units might be wrong, it’s been a while). It’s very hard to get fibres of that length. There have been tests where they put asbestos containing materials into industrial blenders specifically TRYING to get them, and they failed. Most asbestos isn’t dangerous to you. WHO has done a bunch of autopsies of people who died of other things who had lungs full of asbestos fibres and never had a single symptom.

TL;DR: this is fucked up and upsetting, but it’s not a death sentence. We don’t know for sure if the asbestos included was of the dangerous size, and even if it was, the exposure level may be too low to be dangerous. Even if it was both dangerous and high enough, the risk of cancer is still well below fifty percent - I want to say it’s seven percent but I don’t really remember.

This sticker sheet is kiss cut so you can give each one to your favorite pal! It’s sized at 6x4 inches and is printed in the USA!