Think I'm gonna go out and lick some serpentine rocks. Daft politicians and sheeple want to ban serpentine as our state rock because it contains asbestos. What is this, a nanny state? We already know the relatively low working IQ of our legislators and governator ad nauseum—well, they've outdone themselves—declaring serpentine to be dangerous—and therefore should be abolished as our state rock. What nonsense.
Very little serpentinite actually contains any asbestos, the only hypothetical hazard would be if that extremely small percentage of serpentine that actually contains one form of asbestos, chrysotile, one of 20 minerals found in serpentinite, was used for—say road fill.
Most serpentine rock has zero asbestos—and the term asbestos here means they have long stringy fibers—not like the man-made asbestos in the ceiling tiles of our public schools during the 1960s. There is a form of asbestos in some serpentine called Chrysotile. Chrysotile is but one of 20 serpentine group minerals.This means that chrysotile is not a significant component in every chunk of serpentinite.
In order to get silicosis, mesothelioma, etc, a body would need to work at intentionally inhaling serpentine powder in a sealed room for decades to even have a remote chance of getting cancer from it. More likely to get lung cancer from second hand cigarette smoke or talcum powder.
Note: I said powder—so if a sculptor were to work in an enclosed room with serpentine for 20 years, he might or might not get mesothelioma from the rather inert form of asbestos in a very small percentage of serpentine rocks.
Technically speaking, serpentine is a mineral, not a rock, the rock itself is called serpentinite—but no one calls it that–too awkward on the tongue. Apparently this rock-bottom stupid bit of legislature was snuck into the system in favor of asbestos lawyers who stand to make a lot of money. Hoho!
I hiked up Big Rock Ridge the other day and most of the danged ridge is serpentine—George Lucas's main spring comes right out of serpentine rock. I wrote a blog about it (& CA Parks retweeted it!):
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