<i>Le Journal du Dimanche</i> reported on Sunday that the Montparnasse Tower (the ugliest building this side of...La D&eacute;fense) is &quot;stuffed with asbestos.&quot;

I didn't find the original article on line, but here are some echoes:

http://www.lemonde.fr/web/recherche_...-401453,0.html

http://permanent.nouvelobs.com/socie...3.OBS1094.html

They've known that for years.... and have been &quot;discussing&quot; ways to clean it up for years as well. Although...the 56th floor with the viewing area is apparently totally clean - no asbestos.

PB

Asbestos was very widely used in building and construction from 1950-1980, so this isn't surprising.

asbestos in a building is not a problem if it is contained..for example if used in an insulator between an outer and inner wall with no cracks..is problematic if not contained or when repairs are made and the seal is broken.

&quot;They&quot; may have known it for years, but it seems to be big news to the French press.

To get to the 56th floor, you have to take the elevator, which generates winds in its shaft, which carries particulate matter up and down with it, which...

Note:
Be careful around lighthouses especially if you are pregnant or with young children. Lots of mercury was used in the lights, as well as loads of other stuff. Our government (Canadian) is spending millions on environmental remediation in/around lighthouses.

Robespierre: Since you've decided that this is one of the ugliest buildings in Paris then I doubt anyone will go and use the elevators so what's the big worry?

Ah, but from <i>inside</i> you don't have to <u>look</u> at it. And by the way, my opinion is congruent with the consensus.

(I stole that from the 19th-century writer who leased an office on the Eiffel Tower for the same reason.)

Sometimes I wonder how some of us born in the 40s survived.

1. Leaded gasoline and lead-based paint were the standard. And lead water pipes and fittings were still around.

2. I remember roaming around in our Brooklyn neighborhood, going into old buildings and having asbestos fights--throwing chunks of asbestos at each other.

3. When we lived in Panama, the DDT spray trucks would go up and down the streets weekly spraying huge clouds of DDT, with mobs of kids running around and playing in the cool &quot;fog.&quot;

My body could probably qualify as a toxic waste megasite. My mind has already qualified.

Rufus, I remember playing in the &quot;cool fog&quot; in my town as a kid. I'm not sure if it was DDT, or some other vice.

......don't forget the time spent staring
at our foot bones in that x-ray machine
in the kid's shoe department!

DDT is not dangerous unless the survival of your offspring requires that their eggs don't break open before they hatch.

RufusTFirefly, I couldn't agree with you more.

My dad was an electrician on a railway. Besides his pack-a-day habit (which he gave up when he was sixty), he worked around asbestos insulation for many, many years and practically swam in PCB-laced transformer coolant. (He once told me that it made your skin tingle.)

I would have thought that he should have glowed in the dark, but he's coming up for his 97th birthday in June. He's an optimist: he buys green bananas, has just signed a three-year lease on a new car, and told me last night that he needs to get a new computer.

I remember DDT clouds and yes, the shoe store X-rays. I just hope I have some of my dad's genes.

Anselm

Great comments, lead in paint, yes I lived in houses that had that.

Xray of feet before buying shoes, yes they did that to me. I thought it was fun!

Traveling in a car, never mind airbags, no one had seat belts.

Buildings with asbestos, yes worked in them.

Cigarette smoke everywhere, yes I breathed that daily.

Remember the (cannot remember the brand name) boards with skate wheels we got on face down and went flying on streets going down hills. And with no helmet etc.

Thermometers with mercury was used to take our temps.

Lead water pipes, yes had those.

All kinds of poisons sprayed in gardens, DDT and other stuff now outlawed.

It is a wonder that we are alive. Cheers to all who lived through the 40's and the 50's and have lived to tell about it!

Ah, the old mercury thermometers--forgot about them. It used to great fun to break one open and play with the mercury. Made the schoolday go much faster.

&quot;It is a wonder that we are alive. Cheers to all who lived through the 40's and the 50's and have lived to tell about it!&quot;

The incidence of all kinds of lethal cancer (caused by man-made environmental factors) has increased exponentially over the past 100 years. So, on the average, we aren't alive when we should be.

Uhm, I thought the life average of the US citizen is longer then it has ever been? Am I wrong?

Lifespan and cancer mortality are apples and oranges.

<b>http://cancercontrolplanet.cancer.gov:8080/atlas/timeall.jsp?ac=1</b>

I think all these chemicals and radiation cause our cells to mutate much more frequently. And if the mutation happens to be a bad one - you got yourself some cancer. Do people realize that power lines, cell phones/towers, scanners all emit radiation? Think of how many times we are exposed to that! Even heavy clay pots emit a tiny amount of radiation. So not getting cancer is a matter of mutation lottery.

OH, MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!