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Asbestos was in use for 3900 years (roughly :o) ) before it was noticed that it can be dangerous (we now treat it as utterly deadly in the UK at least, I wonder if that is proportionate though - I am not slightly qualified to say!)

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good point. and people used to paint their faces with lead, use leeches as medicine, and so on and on. can't argue with you there! weren't asbestos used in early cigarette filters, even? i think they were.

look: i'm not suggesting to throw the baby out with the bathwater here! might as well use the tools we have the best we can. but why not look to nature and various medicinal traditions too?

as far as I know only in one brand of cigarette. it was a particularly hazardous form of as estos. ironic since it was marketed as being safest healthiest cigarette.

Leeches are used in medicine today, particularly after limb transplant microsurgery.

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