Asbestos
Health
Written answers and statements, 5 March 2002
Mr Owen Paterson (North Shropshire, Conservative)
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if white asbestos, or chrysotile, is chemically distinguishable from talcum powder.
Dr Alan Whitehead (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions; Southampton, Test, Labour)
holding answer
I have been asked to reply
White asbestos is chemically similar to talc, but it is the fibrous nature of asbestos, not its chemical composition, that makes it a risk to human health. Talc is not fibrous.