There are growing concerns that mineral wool, the de facto replacement for asbestos after that material was banned, could cause similar health risks. Potential health concerns linked to mineral wool are not limited to the level of carcinogenicity. There are also concerns that mineral wool can cause skin and lung abnormalities and that inhalation can lead to pulmonary fibrosis, a chronic disease accompanied by breathlessness that cannot be cured.
Could have massive implications for building insulation ??
I suspect that the risks are exaggerated, possibly by lawyers who are looking for the "next big thing" after asbestos litigation.
Mineral wool has been in general use for many years without any significant mortality or serious illness resulting.
"Installers and owners of emergency diesels must assume that they will have to run for a week or more"
My father's mesothelioma didn't show up until 45 years after his exposure to asbestos. Perhaps we are on the brink of an epidemic of mineral wool caused illnesses? As someone who has used it a lot over the years I'll let you know.
I don't know if it is the same stuff, but I have used "wool" insulation when younger a fair few times lagging lofts out. The last time I came into contact with it was only 5 years back when I converted my existing loft. Proper nasty stuff. Even wearing a mask, the bugger gets in and, if you breath any amount of it in, you are coughing your guts up for days. Usually accompanied by a bit of blood in your spit. It settles down after a week or so. But, does not bode well in terms of long term health consequences I would have thought.
I bought some chap and nasty stuff off eeee-bay a few years back. It did not get into my lungs as I was wearing a respirator with filters (also full goggles) but the filters get pretty dirty and it got into the skin for a few days. Having said that there was a lot of other nasties in the loft such as rat excrement, bird poop and dead birds so I may be blaming the wrong product.
As insulation it worked pretty well. It was certainly not fireproof. I put a bit on a plate and lit it with a lighter and it roared into flame a bit like petrol.
The original mineral wool that I used was Rockwool and that is made from spun volcanic rock bound with a phenolic resin. It's used as a fire insulation and has been extensively tested in that role so shouldn't go up in flames. There are other things sold as mineral wool and I don't know what they are made of so a cheap product might go up in flames. Rockwool is not a comfortable material to use but it is not as bad as fibre glass in my opinion.
