Strange "pellets" in the loft.

[Matt]

Hey,

I am very new to the trade and I was helping a mate on a house rewire the other day and I found something that intrigued me. When I went up into the loft I found loads if these:

Does anybody know what these are? the loft floor is littered with loads of them. The house is really old, if that matters. Is it some sort of degraded insulation?

 

[snowhead]

It says that it was almost entirely mined in a place called Libby in the US and that it is almost certain it contains different kinds of asbestos... Anybody had any experience with this stuff?

Not according to this;

Coming from Europe, virtually all of what I read about vermiculite on the Internet seems to be focused on issues in the United States. Is this something I need to worry about here? Very little Libby vermiculite was exported to Europe. So the issues related to Libby vermiculite are much less relevant outside of the USA. European vermiculite suppliers ensure that the products sold are properly tested, meet International standards and are safe to use.

https://www.vermiculite.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/FAQs.pdf

You probably need to be more concerned about the ink in the old newspapers the Vermiculite is sitting on..;

First and foremost, is the ink toxic? In the past, newspaper ink was largely composed of heavy metals such as lead, and other toxic materials like cadmium.

https://permaculturenews.org/2016/03/14/is-newspaper-safe-for-your-garden/

 

[Charlie_]

That insulation is most useful for when it says hello during the installation of downlights

 

[Matt]

Coming from Europe, virtually all of what I read about vermiculite on the Internet seems to be focused on issues in the United States. Is this something I need to worry about here? Very little Libby vermiculite was exported to Europe. So the issues related to Libby vermiculite are much less relevant outside of the USA. European vermiculite suppliers ensure that the products sold are properly tested, meet International standards and are safe to use.

Thank you for putting the link, yet I am still skeptical of a source which interest lies within the mining, promotion and sale of a product which is considered to be harmful if impure.

I understand that Vermiculite in itself is not asbestos - and not every Vermiculite mine is also an asbestos mine.

And the mentioned organization is supposedly on guard of "best practices" and "protocols" in order to provide safe and non-toxic products to the public.

Yes, information regarding Libby is quick to find from multiple sources, presenting both sides of the argument,and they show that Libby was a single mine within a a bigger network of those that operated in the US - which is a major exporter of Vermiculite.

And if US Vermiculate was only a small precentage of that coming to Europe then where did the majority come from. South Africa comes to mind as according to data it is the biggest exporter of this material. It is also a big exporter of asbestos and known for poor quality control and work conditions in many of its industry...

Now... the Vermiculite Association might be doing a great job protecting consumers and workers from the dangerous effects of impure minerals yet adhering to their standards is not compulsory. It is only advice.
Now surely a lot of you here have been working on-site for much longer then I have so think about it and tell me if following protocol or H&S is really what people do in order to "get things done".

I am not trying to scare monger yet being dismissive of a case and quoting resources from organizations involved in the upkeep of a potentially dangerous substance is not good for me.

PLUS, by SAFE we mean any material which is undisturbed or in its original/manufactured form - asbestos containing blocks are all fine with me until someone starts to cut them with a grinder... so maybe similar things should be considered when speaking about Vermiculite pellets, of which origin we have not a clue.
Sure, very little should not kill you but maybe this could be food for thought?

 

[brianmoooore]

Vermiculite is still used and readily available - there is a stack of bags of the stuff in my local builder's merchant.
I'm about to use a slightly different form of it, mixed with a little cement, to insulate around flue pipes in some old chimneys.