Ad for asbestos place mats. The company delivers to the whole continent, so don’t feel left out of the cancer fun, Canada and Mexico! The company, founded 1858, went bankrupt in 1982 after asbestos claim payouts. The branding was later purchased, and still exists, now selling asbestos-free products.
The heat resistance of asbestos has been known for thousands of years, but the severe health issues only began to be realized around 1898, led by doctors in the UK. Even then, these matters are not like flipping a switch. It wasn’t until the 1920s that much headway was made to regulate it in the UK. The US was slow out of the gate and took another 10 years to follow suit.
For quite a while, there were many consumer products proudly touting their asbestos content, from stove liners to place mats to tea kettles. Most, but not all, countries now have bans in place to eliminate citizen exposure.
Here is an ad for asbestos wiring, showing a vintage movie projection room in Portland, OR.
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Living in an asbestos mining town was probably even worse. You can find video of people in the 1950s living in Asbestos, QC, wiping the dust off their cars before going to work at the mine. People have long known it was dangerous, still the companies like Johns Manville couldn’t be arsed to invest in masks, ventilation and other security measures.
It’s still widely used in developing countries, notably India, China, Indonesia etc…