The question though is do we need to safely work with asbestos? I've seen it removed properly by professionals, but I've personally witnessed too many times of people who should know better (mostly tradesmen who are working around this stuff frequently and should have proper training) doing dumb things and exposing themselves and others (one instance needing our whole 1960s era office building vacated for decontamination). This is in a country with a complete ban on new asbestos products since the '90s and strong building regulation, so it'd be even worse in countries with weaker regulation.
And why use it? My house had a lot of asbestos-cement wall sheeting (fibro), I had much of it professionally removed and the safe plaster (for general rooms) and cellulose fibre-cement sheeting (for kitchen, bathroom) is just as good or better (the new fibre cement can be jointed nicely whereas the old asbestos cement sheeted rooms had visible seams).
For insulation etc., fibreglass, rockwool, etc. can work just as well, maybe you need slightly thicker insulation but who really cares?
There are safer alternatives for basically every application of asbestos, so why bother using something that is dangerous at every step (mining, transport, processing, manufacture, modifications (drilling, cutting, etc.), disposal) instead of alternatives?
And why use it? My house had a lot of asbestos-cement wall sheeting (fibro), I had much of it professionally removed and the safe plaster (for general rooms) and cellulose fibre-cement sheeting (for kitchen, bathroom) is just as good or better (the new fibre cement can be jointed nicely whereas the old asbestos cement sheeted rooms had visible seams).
For insulation etc., fibreglass, rockwool, etc. can work just as well, maybe you need slightly thicker insulation but who really cares?
There are safer alternatives for basically every application of asbestos, so why bother using something that is dangerous at every step (mining, transport, processing, manufacture, modifications (drilling, cutting, etc.), disposal) instead of alternatives?