Serpentine, the California state rock, may be in peril of losing its title due to a small amount of asbestos content. Gloria Romero, the California state senator, is backing a bill that would drop the yellow, red and gray mineral from the state’s affections, claiming that its association with asbestos portrays a negative image. The bill that aims to discredit the mineral is gaining support quickly, much to the chagrin of local geologists.
“[Serpentine] contains the deadly mineral chrysotile asbestos,” Romero says, “a known carcinogen, exposure to which increases the risk of the cancer mesothelioma.”
Many geologists disagree with the movement, claiming that the mineral is far from dangerous and that the symbolic gesture of bringing Serpentine down a notch would be based on a misunderstanding. Serpentine, they say, is actually a family of twenty or so similar minerals, very few of which contain any asbestos. The types that do contain asbestos aren’t dangerous, either, they say. They have only a tiny amount of chrysotile asbestos, a type of asbestos of which exposure to in small amounts hasn’t even been linked to disease.
Fibrous asbestos, on the other hand, certainly causes a wide variety of serious and even fatal diseases. The size and power of the asbestos industry, however, has slowed the advance of negative sentiments concerning the dangerous mineral. While many nations including the entire European Union have completely banned asbestos, the United States continues to allow the substance’s use while applying strict safe-handling regulations.
The EPA attempted to ban asbestos in the USA back in the 1980′s, but the decision was overturned by the powerful asbestos industry within just a few years. Campaigns such as publicly denouncing Serpentine, California’s state rock, may help to increase public awareness of asbestos’s dangers, and turn the tides on still raging political and legal asbestos battles.
To many geologists, however, the movement simply doesn’t make sense.
“Serpentine is a very beautiful rock,” says the emeritus professor of geology at UCLA, John Rosenfeld.
“Holding the rock is not a problem and it’s nothing you should be concerned about. It’s part of the history of California, noticed by the early settlers of this state. It’s a beautiful stone and shouldn’t be removed.”
