Amazing Asbestos

I've just about gone through the entire estate I've been working on and I'm glad to see the end in sight. The Frederick books I posted about last time did sell on ebay. Not for as much as I wished but that's how ebay rolls! The buyer was happy with his purchase.

One of the strange things I've found going through some of the old magazines are the ads. I had a 1943 Time magazine that didn't sell on ebay so I went through and started cutting out the ads to sell. I made more money selling the single ads than I was asking for the magazine by itself! The ad that got the most attention and sold for the highest price was called "Amazing Asbestos!" It was a one quarter page ad in black and white and in 1943 it was touted as the best thing ever invented! It said you could walk through fire wearing a suit made of asbestos and never get burned! They were really promoting building your house using asbestos to make it more fire proof.

Here we are, 66 years later and there are ads everywhere saying you should call an attorney if you or a loved one has been exposed to asbestos. I guess Mesothelioma is the worst disease linked now a days to asbestos. It's a most dangerous type of lung cancer. My own uncle died of Mesothelioma a few years ago. He was an otherwise healthy man who had never smoked cigarettes in his life. From the time he was diagnosed until the time he died was just a few short months. He had worked in an industry that exposed him to asbestos for many many years.

Looking back at what America promoted as wonderful that many years ago makes me wonder what items we are promoting today that will be deemed as harmful in 60 years to come?