Fiberglass no longer causes cancer? LOL

[Stan Potter]

These comments were originally a reply to a previous thread about cleaning logs but merits having a thread of its own. I wonder if some of the log home builders who no longer use fiberglass would mind responding. Do you feel that if you switched back to using fiberglass you would no longer be in danger of getting cancer from it?

I suppose I will no longer be able to say fiberglass causes cancer because of the test results you mentioned Blue-eyed Devil. But have you seen what they wear in the work place now where this stuff is manufactured? If you and your employees wore that get-up you wouldn't get lung cancer either!

I know a builder who built log homes most of his life and lost his lung to cancer. He says his doctor told him it was from building homes with fiberglass! The surgery to remove his lung wasn't a "cake walk" either. You only have a 50-50 chance of living through the surgery! Maybe they have a biodegradable product now too but it still is fiberglass, isn't it?

It's amazing what big business can do with money and lobbies to deceive the public (I didn't say that they actually did this but I believe they could). How can it cause cancer in previous tests and now it no longer does? Employees are completely covered and masked where this stuff is manufactured! I doubt even 1% of log home builders are covered that well each time they break open the fiberglass bags. So now the manufacturers employees do not get cancer but it doesn't mean that you and your employess won't!

Stan Potter
GOOD SHEPHERD WOOL INSULATION
www.GoodShepherdWool.com

[MikeS]

It's hard for me to really believe a log builder could loose a lung to cancer from fiberglass. Me and my crew deal with insulation materials about 15 days out of a 250 work day year. We are working with it in the open air, not a closed environment. We do have sawdust around us for at least 200 of those 250 days. Sawdust has a MSDS sheet, which I don't have in front of me, but I do know it is another health hazard. In addition, we work with preservatives, which is a health hazard of greater concern than fiberglass.

Depending if the log house has a gasket or chinking or caulk on the INTERIOR, fiberglass may or may not be an issue. No interior gasket, and one should consider the risks.

I offer wool and encapsulated fiberglass as an option, not a standard. Many customers take the option, not all. I do it to offer an alternative, and because of potential moisture issues related to fiberglass. I don't think it is a serious health issue if the house is built tight with an interior vapor barrier between the log joints.

[blue eyed devil]

How can it cause cancer in previous tests and now it no longer does?
Stan
I was not talking about people taking proper precautions when working with fibreglass.It's your statement suggesting people living in a home with fibreglass risk getting lung cancer every time the wind blows that pissed me off.

Do you know what chrysotile is?
It's asbestos and not many would argue that it's a known carcinogen with no known safe level. Billions have been spent removing it from buildings and homes even if the risks were minimal.Some interesting facts about asbestos:

The ambient air concentrations of chrysotile in cities and rural areas is generally around 0.001 f/cc (1 fibre/litre). This means that every day, 14 400 fibres of chrysotile transit through the lungs of a "normal" non-occupationally exposed person.

The Health Effect Institute (U.S.) estimated that an office worker is 10 times less exposed to airborne fibre inside a building made withasbestos than in outdoor air in urban areas.

Natural spring water can contain up to 1,8 billion chrysotile fibres per litre

Many products are put on the list as “reasonably anticipated” to cause cancer.Low calorie sweetner is one such product that was on the list for YEARS because it caused bladder cancer in rats.There was not enough evidence after 20 or so years of research to keep it on the list,so it was removed.It turns out that the mechanism that caused the cancer in rats was not relavant to humans
The same goes for Fibreglass.It was reasonable at one time to assume it caused lung cancer.
I must be the one percent of builders wearing a mask when working with fibreglass.I doubt it! The fibres are nasty in the lungs.I think most builders are smarter than that!I also wear a mask when welding,grinding metal,and sawing/sanding wood.It's not a big deal to wear one and if it has an exaust valve,it's comfortable to wear.I suppose if I inhaled enough fibreglas I could indeed get lung cancer.I also could smoke two packs of smokes a day with the possibilty of getting lung cancer, but I don't!
Sell your product on it's own merits, not scare tactics.

[Stan Potter]

Hi Blue,

You mentioned that what really ticked you off was the statement I made about fibers getting into the home every time the wind blows. I did make that statement but I was quoting a BC log home restoration specialist who emphatically assured me that what he was saying was indeed true! I had a hard time believing it at first but his experience convinced me to believe him.

I have noticed that many log home builders have some measure of respect for these professionals who have to come back into someone's home and repair what often should have been done better the first time around. I am not a log home builder, or a carpenter so I have to rely on the expertise of those of you whom I run into while being a shepherd and selling my wool. Anyone who can make a living year round by repairing log home problems must have a significant level of expertise and so I must say I trust this man's call.

As for me selling my product for it's own merits I'll let stand by them. It is a natural product coming off the back of an animal we have trusted for thousands of years to even wear as clothing. There have never been any tests showing that wool clothing has caused cancer. If people have been testing it by wearing it for that long without getting cancer I say it's alot better for your home than another product which was once tested and found to cause cancer but now no longer is found to cause it!

If you read the article you referred me to more closely it says they found it no longer causes cancer in the manufacturing workplace. I have spoken to an employee who worked at a fiberglass manufacturing plant in Alberta, Canada. She said in recent years everyone is covered from head to toe! That's why employees no longer get cancer that work there. How many log home builders are covered like that? That's how they got rid of cancer in the manufacturing workplace. I still doubt that 99% of employees installing fiberglass in homes are covered to that degree. If you want to speak to the individual I refer to whose doctor told him he lost his lung to cancer due to fiberglass I refer you to Ron Lepard of Blue Trail Log Homes at 403-845-4777.

Stan Potter
GOOD SHEPHERD WOOL INSULATION
www.GoodShepherdWool.com

[Jim Marsh]

Stan,
I do agree with the wool being a good product...but you come across in in such a way that that seems to try and put a major
sales pitch fear tactic just to try and sell your product, it comes across as very negative. Everyone knows that breathing fiberglass is bad and everyone knows that you should wear a some kind of protection. Everything causes cancer these days, at least that's what they are telling us. Did you know that a study was also done and found out that a large percentage of people
who got cancer also had an unresolved hatred or unforgiveness
toward someone...
Then again, It may just be that you really do care about people and are concerned about thier well being and I may be out of line.
As a man thinks, so he is...if you are fearful and someone gets you to believe that you are going to get cancer, studies also have proven that alot of people do...the mind and our thoughts are very powerful for good or for bad! I'm not one to hide in the sand either...it's just maybe your presentation could use some help.
Ps. By the way I love your product and have told many people about it...all the advantages with using wool.
Best of wishes

[Stan Potter]

Hi Jim,

So now I'm just waiting for you to order! When you do you may rather order from our distributor in OR. They are, The Log Home Store of Timber, OR. You may contact them at: sales@aloghomestore.com

Thanks,
Stan Potter
GOOD SHEPHERD WOOL INSULATION
www.GoodShepherdWool.com