Environment - Asbestos

According to Vol. 170 of Science News, tremolite, a naturally-occuring asbestos, contaminates the soil in the suburban El Dorado county area of California, in the Sierra foothills. Respiratory exposure to tremolite has been linked to mesothelioma, a lung cancer that is usually fatal.

The article goes on to state that shallow natural deposits of asbestos contaminate 50 out of 58 California counties, and occur in 19 other states. Large areas of Fairfax County in Virginia are contaminated with tremolite, resulting in the creation of rules to deal with contamination. If you happen to live in or around that area and want to find out more, you can go here.

To see a map of naturally occurring asbestos deposits from Vermont to Alabama, go here. Apparently, maps of asbestos sites in the Midwest and the West of the U.S. are in progress, although I have not yet been able to find them.

However, I will keep looking and update this site when I have more information.

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