#26: Asbestos Snow
Once upon a time, asbestos was the darling of the day. Its versatility saw it tucked into our walls, woven into our kitchen mitts, and even flaunting its fire-resistant charm on movie sets. And when winter came around, people would sprinkle it like fairy dust, creating a magical, albeit dangerous, winter wonderland. Who knew that this faux snow was a ticking time bomb of health hazards?
Can you imagine families dousing their Christmas trees with a toxic substance, an image that seems ludicrous to us today? Picture a youthful Judy Garland, unknowingly adorned in the same lethal material in The Wizard of Oz! If only we could transport our current knowledge back in time, how different things may have been! It’s an eerie thought, isn’t it? A snapshot of a time when we were blissfully unaware of certain dangers.