The British tabloids will publish just about anything to draw sales. And sadly, a lot of Brits as well as the rest of the world's population fall for that drivel "hook, line, and sinker." Kornbluth's The Marching Morons in action!
If I'm not mistaken yes, the particles are so small that they can find their way into a single cell and disrupt the cell's activity. A bristle from a T is way larger though, and I don't know how friable they are. Even with asbestos it requires long term exposure from a large amount to cause cancer (Again, if I'm not mistaken. Don't quote me on any of this). This makes it even more hilarious that the amount of asbestos that potentially found its way onto the surface of a tarantula is seen as cause for concern. Asbestos aside, so much bs is in that article. A rose hair molt being described as huge, an entire crew of professionals who must see pests constantly running at the sight of what they thought was a dead spider (This I actually don't doubt, but it is still silly), a breeding population of rosies in Wales, a T doubling in size from a single molt. I'm surprised they didn't say that rose hair tarantulas cause thousands of human deaths every year with their vicious attitude and deadly necrosis-causing bites.Please correct me if I am wrong. Aren't urticarious setae and asbestos fibers mechanically similar? And isn't the cancer from asbestos exposure started by the scarification caused by the asbestos fibers worming and wiggling through ones lungs? It would be very interesting to know just what happens when you breath in friable urticarious setae when one cleans out an old tank or gets haired.
And yes, the article the OP linked was rubbish but questions are not.
Problem with asbestos fibers is that your body can't remove it. Once it's stuck in there, it's there forever. Mineral wool is more appropriate comparison. It also does similar damage, but it slowly dissolves in water and gets out of your lungs.Please correct me if I am wrong. Aren't urticarious setae and asbestos fibers mechanically similar? And isn't the cancer from asbestos exposure started by the scarification caused by the asbestos fibers worming and wiggling through ones lungs? It would be very interesting to know just what happens when you breath in friable urticarious setae when one cleans out an old tank or gets haired.
And yes, the article the OP linked was rubbish but questions are not.
I have been breathing the dust from our tarantula room for over 4 decades, and apart from a touch of emphysema, these nasty little dark "floaters" in my vision, the constant itch and rash, the little green bumps that turn gooshy and fall off, and the wheezy rasp in my voice, I'm just fine!