Magic mineral to killer dust : Turner & Newall and the asbestos hazard / by Geoffrey Tweedale, with additional research by Philip Hansen.

Includes bibliographical references.

A physical paradox -- Dust control and mortality: 1931 to the 1940s -- Medical provision, diagnosis, and prescription -- Compensation for asbestos workers -- Death by industrial disease -- Dust, mortality, and the cancer hazard: 1940s to the early 1960s -- Countervailing forces -- Lighting the powder trail -- The asbestos 'bomb' explodes -- Turner & Newall on trial -- An acceptable level of death

Asbestos was once known as the 'magic mineral' because of its ability to withstand flames. Yet since the 1960s, it has become a notorious and feared 'killer dust' that is responsible for thousands of deaths and an epidemic that will continue into the millennium. This is the first comprehensive history of the UK asbestos health problem, which provides an in-depth look at the occupational health experience of one of the world's leading asbestos companies - British asbestos giant, Turner & Newall. Based on a vast company archive recently released in American litigation, this book gives an unprecedented insight into all aspects of the asbestos hazard - dust control, workmen's compensation, government regulation, and the development of medical knowledge. In particular, it looks at the role of industrialists, doctors, factory inspectors, and trades unionists, highlighting the failures in regulation that accompanied the commercial development of a material that was already known to be lethal at the start of the twentieth century