Asbestos

[Bruce]

Yep willie, if you look at those fibres sticking out under a microscope and compare them with raw fibres, you will see they are now different. ( This is what I was told at the time. Cement combines so well with asbestos that it removes the tiny hairy bits ). There is also the numbers thing where the number of these fibres you breath in would be a lot less. Many of those fibres sticking out don't make it to float around in the air.

 

If just one fibre breathed in was enough, we all would have died because it is present in the dust in the air, not to mention in traffic where brake linings were releasing the stuff. But at the factory where they made the sheets, they had stocks of the raw woolly stuff and this was really dangerous.

 

On a visit to a James Hardie factory at the time though, I was impressed at the precautions they were using, such as suction pipes near machines which did cutting.

 

So I reckon you are OK willie. I wonder if it can be checked out, since we all have had some exposure . In the meantime, don't smoke.. I did as a kid but gave up over 50 years ago.