The same day that the Seattle Times tells us that two south Seattle cement plants are pumping 100 pounds of mercury into the air each year, we learned from the P-I that the Bush administration doesn't think asbestos causes cancer. Chronic exposure to tiny levels of mercury in the air can give you the shakes and make you stupid, but it also accumulates in the earth and in water. We're probably close to being able to use Duwamish fish to tell the temperature by now. Senator Patty Murray has been fighting for a ban on asbestos, and is disturbed by the "EPA's desire to ignore decades worth of what are considered solid studies documenting the actual hazard of the most common type of asbestos." Happily, Amazon sells an Israeli gas mask for about $40. That ought to filter out some of this, right? more ›