Vermiculite asbestos rumors

[Case]

In doing a lot of reading about keeping T's lately, I've run across a couple of vague references indicating that vermiculite may contain carcinogenic asbestos stuff.
I wasn't all that worried about it, but I can't say it made me feel good about using the stuff either.
Anyway, I just ran across this on the web:
http://www.schultz.com/news15.htm

To summarize what it says, it basically indicates (the way I read it anyway) that most vermiculite does not contain any asbestos, and that which does contain asbestos contains only extremely minute quantities that do not pose a threat to our health.

I realize this may be old news - maybe you've all heard all this already. Sorry if that is the case. I found it interesting and thought it worthy of sharing, though, on the off chance that anyone else was wondering about it.

Scott Case

 

[Henry Kane]

Yeah, I've read that before too. I just try not to stir up too much dust when using it. After I pour some, I'l leave the room for a min to let any airborne particles settle. (Hey, another good use for HEPA filters in the bugroom!)

I also heard somewhere that there's some kind of crazy mold in Peat (supposedly very rare) that can be very dangerous if you handle it with any open cuts on your hands. Anyone know whassup wit dat?:?

ATrax

 

[Case]

Heh, if that's not irony, I don't know what is: It's not the scary-looking spider in the tank you've gotta worry about; it's the substrate that will get you!
Heh. Oh well, if anybody drops dead from vermiculite or peat poisoning, be sure to have your loved ones warn the rest of us.

Scott Case

 

[Code Monkey]

I did a bunch of research a few months ago into what I could find when I realised that Home Depot and Wal-Mart weren't carrying it anymore. Basically, it's a load of over reactionary crap.

Minute quantities of asbestos were found in 4 of the existing vermiculite mines in North America. A subsequent random sampling of commercial vermiculite products found *trace* amounts of asbestos in approximately 15% of the products sampled.
The things to keep in mind: The amount of asbestos was so tiny that it was still considered "perfectly" safe and legal to sell. There is currently no reason to believe that even if you do happen to be using the small percentage of vermiculite with the nigh undetectable levels of asbestos that there's any vector for introducing it into your body in a dangerous manner. There's absolutely zero reason to assume that vermiculite produced outside of North America has even a possibilityof containing Asbestos.

I went out and bout a 28lb sack from the feed store just in case the public stupidity gets out of hand, though.

 

[Case]

Maybe that explains why I have been having a hard time finding any. I have scoured nearly my whole town and not been able to get any so far. Only place I haven't checked yet is local feed stores. None of the Wal-Marts, hardware stores, or nurseries have any.

Scott Case

 

[kosh]

i dont know if mine has asbestos or not but i had a hard time finding vermiculite anywhere here except the local farmers co-op...and i had to try 3 different co-ops before i found one that had the stuff in stock.....it was close to $10 for a 15# bag...

 

[Bearacuda42]

Dont care for it!!!

i dont care for vermiculite and never used it and never will.. had a buddy who used it alot and all his Ts died one after another for no reason at all... i will stick to my mix and things i use.. it seems to work just fine....and after all these years why switch... ;P ;P =D