Worst industial killer?

[The Yosemite Bear]

Agent Orange?
Thylamide?
Asbestos?
Uranium?
Benzine?
Hormone Growth enhancers?
other?

so what is the worst cancerous/Tetragenmorus substance with the abiltiy to keep on killing long after exposure and use?

currently my reasoning is asbestoes, do to the sheer abundance of that white flaky stuff tol this day (like say on the breaks of every car)

[Sea Skimmer]

currently my reasoning is asbestoes, do to the sheer abundance of that white flaky stuff tol this day (like say on the breaks of every car)

Asbestos rarely gives cancer to anyone who didn’t either work installing it or stripping it out for years on end, and the stuff is no hazard at all inside of your wall, that’s why it makes no sense to remove it until absolutely necessary.

You wont find may auto mechanics with asbestos related cancer, since garages tend to be open air or close too it, and they ceased making break pads out of the stuff a couple decades ago. In the US anyway. Some clutches are still asbestos but your clutch shouldn’t be putting out smoke or dust unless your abusing the shit out of your car. Like if you’re a moron and you set your parking break as hard as possible before doing a burnout…

[Wicked Pilot]

Could we put tobacco in the list?

[Admiral Valdemar]

Probably dioxins and benzene, but I'd imagine alcohol is actually one of the best, as is tobacco.

[Broomstick]

I'd vote for benzene. Some of the others have a fiercer reputation, but either the likelihood of damaging exposure is much smaller than people think it is, or else the effects are much more limited than supposed.

[LadyTevar]

Over 400 men, mostly immigrants or blacks, died of silicosis (white lung) after working on the Hawks Nest Dam and Tunnel in 1933. They were digging through pure sandstone/silica rock, with no protection, although higher-ups always wore masks during inspections. The official total of deaths is 434. The unofficial total is twice that.

But that does not beat the worst cause of industrial deaths for this state: BlackLung. Nearly 3/4 of all miners over the last 150 yrs have died of this disease, caused by coal dust trapped in the lungs.

[TheBlackCat]

I would probably add PCBs to the list.

[Broomstick]

Except that most people are exposed to the most minute quanities of PCB's. Benzene is a far more common ane pervasive chemical in the environment.

[The Dude]

The Bhopal incident alone would put methyl isocyanate a ways up the list.

Deaths from black lung are somewhere north of 1000 per year in North America and are probably in the 5000+ range in India and China, probably making it one of the (if not the) worst.

Modern deaths from uranium exposure are effectively nil. Of the ~60 deaths so far (and ~4000 projected premature deaths) attributable to the Chernobyl disaster, for example, virtually all are due to exposure to I-131, Cs-137 and Sr-90.

I'm not sure of the statistics, but I'd venture that ammonia is another bad one.

[Admiral Valdemar]

Benzene, however, is so abundant, the risk of having sweetener produce benzene because of sodium benzoate reacting with ascorbate which is always added to major soft drinks to give a Vit. C dose. Hell, my brother kept toying with the idea of starting a fashion brand using just the simplified benzene diagram as a logo, can't see why it wouldn't work, there are geekier things ("Obey Root", anyone?).

Since benzene is a part of just about every carcinogen out there from industrial solvents to the PAHs you'd get on burnt toast, it's easy to class it up there at number 1. Though I'd also put dioxins in too, because they form from incomplete carbon combustion too and rise through the trophic levels like DDT to become a threat to humans if abundant enough.

[wautd]

Chlorine and mustard gas. Even if you survive, your lungs are damaged forever so it'll probably shorten your life by quite a bit

[LadyTevar]

Chlorine and mustard gas. Even if you survive, your lungs are damaged forever so it'll probably shorten your life by quite a bit

Not quite something you'd find in an industrial situation....

I still say Black Lung, with over a thousand deaths Each Year in the USA alone, takes it. Add it up, folks. 1000 deaths a year x 150yrs of mining coal? That's a lot of deaths, and it's possibly even higher since the first 100 yrs did not have the prevention measures found in modern mines.

[AMX]

Chlorine and mustard gas. Even if you survive, your lungs are damaged forever so it'll probably shorten your life by quite a bit

Not quite something you'd find in an industrial situation....

Mustard, no.
But chlorine is pretty common.

[The Yosemite Bear]

Chlorine and mustard gas. Even if you survive, your lungs are damaged forever so it'll probably shorten your life by quite a bit

Not quite something you'd find in an industrial situation....

Mustard, no.
But chlorine is pretty common.

I remembered dropping towels on the ground to form a barrier around the linin delivery truck on summer working at the municipal pool.

Driver: why the fuck are you ruining my those towels we can't clean them after you get motor oil all over them.

Me: because what happens when your leaky engine oil meets my swimming pool cholrine?

[wautd]

Chlorine and mustard gas. Even if you survive, your lungs are damaged forever so it'll probably shorten your life by quite a bit

Not quite something you'd find in an industrial situation....

Right, I misinterpreted the OP

[Agemegos]

Deaths from black lung are somewhere north of 1000 per year in North America and are probably in the 5000+ range in India and China, probably making it one of the (if not the) worst.

I was going to suggest black lung too. It is still killling people at a ferocious rate. And underground coal mining has been a huge industry for a long time, with very low levels of concern about industrial safety. I would guess taht teh total number of people who have died of black lung since the Industrial Revolution would be absolutely staggering.