Asbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making

AsbestosPodcast.com
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  • HISTORY

They knew. They always knew. Nearly 2,000 years ago, Roman historian Pliny the Elder documented asbestos workers dying from "sickness of the lungs"—watching slaves fashion crude respirators from animal bladders while weaving what he called "funeral dress for kings." The people closest to the dust understood the danger. The people farthest away admired the spectacle, collected the profits, and buried the evidence. That pattern never changed. Asbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making traces humanity's 4,500-year relationship with the mineral the ancient Greeks named "asbestos"—meaning indestructible. From Stone Age Finnish pottery (2500 BCE) to the $70+ billion in legal damages paid by modern corporations, we uncover how a material praised for safety became a source of sickness, litigation, and grief. Each episode explores: Ancient origins: The salamander myth that persisted for 2,000 years, the Roman tablecloths that cleaned themselves in fire, the sacred flames kept burning with asbestos wicks The industrial cover-up: Internal documents proving companies knew asbestos caused cancer since the 1930s—and suppressed the evidence for 40 years Modern consequences: Why mesothelioma claims 3,000 American lives annually, and why $30+ billion sits in asbestos trust funds waiting for victims who never file The science of denial: How manufactured doubt delayed regulation for decades, using the same tactics as the tobacco industry—sometimes with the same scientists Whether you're a history enthusiast, legal professional, medical researcher, or someone seeking answers after asbestos exposure, this podcast reveals the uncomfortable truth: the longest-running industrial cover-up in human history isn't ancient history. It's still happening. The History of Asbestos Podcast is sponsored by Danziger & De Llano, a nationwide mesothelioma law firm with over 30 years of experience and nearly $2 billion recovered for asbestos victims.  If you or a loved one has mesothelioma, visit Dandell.com for a free consultation.

Episodes

  1. Episode 11: The Corporate Architects

    3D AGO

    Episode 11: The Corporate Architects

    Episode 11: The Corporate Architects Asbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making In 1898, a British government inspector described asbestos particles as "sharp, glass-like, jagged" and documented workers dying from lung disease. That same year, Henry Ward Johns—founder of America's largest asbestos company—died of his own product at age 40. Three years later, the Johns-Manville merger created an empire while public health warnings sat on file, ignored. In Episode 11 of Asbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making, hosts trace how corporations built global empires while evidence of worker deaths accumulated in government reports, medical testimony, and insurance actuarial tables. What this episode covers: • Lucy Deane's 1898 British Factory Inspectors' Report—the first government documentation that asbestos dust caused "evil effects" and "injury to bronchial tubes and lungs" • Henry Ward Johns dies of asbestosis at age 40—three years before his company merges to create Johns-Manville • Dr. H. Montague Murray's 1906 Parliamentary testimony: a patient who reported 10 coworkers dead, all in their thirties • Denis Auribault's 1906 French report: approximately 50 worker deaths in a single Normandy factory over five years • Frederick Hoffman's 1918 finding that insurance companies refused to cover asbestos workers "on account of the assumed health-injurious conditions" • The 1921 Bureau of Mines propaganda film promoting Johns-Manville—still streamable today from the Library of Congress Who this episode is for: Families researching asbestos exposure history, mesothelioma patients seeking to understand corporate suppression, historians examining early industrial health documentation, and anyone following the evidence trail from ancient history to modern conspiracy. Expert perspective: "Companies kept meticulous production records—shipping manifests, insurance policies, inventory logs. They just didn't track what happened to the workers. After 30 years in mesothelioma litigation, we've learned that the paper trail always exists. Someone just has to know where to look." — Paul Danziger, Founding Partner, Danziger & De Llano (https://dandell.com/paul-danziger/) Resources: → Asbestos exposure sources: https://dandell.com/asbestos-exposure/ → Mesothelioma compensation options: https://dandell.com/mesothelioma-compensation/ → Attorney profile — Rod De Llano: https://dandell.com/rod-de-llano/ → Free consultation: https://dandell.com/contact-us/ Asbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making is sponsored by Danziger & De Llano Mesothelioma Law Firm, a nationwide practice with over 30 years of experience and nearly $2 billion recovered for asbestos victims. If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, the exposure happened somewhere—and Paul Danziger and Rod De Llano know how to trace it back. For a free consultation, visit https://dandell.com. Resources: → Mesothelioma legal rights: https://dandell.com/mesothelioma/ → Asbestos exposure sources: https://dandell.com/asbestos-exposure/ → Asbestos trust funds ($30B+ available): https://dandell.com/asbestos-trust-funds/ → Free case evaluation: https://dandell.com/contact/ Sister Podcast - MESO: The Mesothelioma Podcast: http://mesotheliomapodcast.com/

    17 min
  2. Episode 10: The Mines Open

    JAN 26

    Episode 10: The Mines Open

    Episode 10: The Mines Open Arc 3: The Industrial Revolution — Premiere Episode How did a 'miracle fix' for deadly boiler explosions become a century-long catastrophe? In 1880, 159 boilers exploded in a single year—killing workers and bystanders with scalding steam and flying metal. Asbestos insulation solved the problem. But boiler explosions killed dozens per year. Asbestos would kill hundreds of thousands. The cure was worse than the disease—by orders of magnitude. Episode 10 marks the premiere of Arc 3: The Industrial Revolution. After nine episodes covering 4,500 years of asbestos as rare curiosity, we examine the century (1828-1900) when it became cheap enough to wrap every steam pipe in America—and deadly enough to kill the founder of the American asbestos industry. In this episode: • The 1836 Patent Office fire that erased the identity of America's first asbestos patent holder—the fireproof mineral, lost to fire • Quebec's production explosion: 50 tonnes (1878) to 10,000+ tonnes (1890s)—and zero worker injury records for the entire century • Thomas Reily: killed by flying boiler metal while walking home in 1853, his death blamed on 'a man in Canada' • Henry Ward Johns: founded the American asbestos industry, died in 1898 from breathing his own product • The 1899 Charing Cross case: a textile worker who knew all 10 of his coworkers had died—and became the first documented victim • Why corporate origin myths always involve blueberries and tea kettles, never 'dust and coughing' Who this episode is for: Anyone researching asbestos industry history, families tracing occupational exposure in mining or manufacturing, historians interested in Industrial Revolution workplace safety, and listeners following the series from ancient origins into the modern conspiracy. Expert perspective: "The conspiracy doesn't start with what companies knew—it starts with who they didn't bother counting," notes Paul Danziger, founding partner of Danziger & De Llano and a mesothelioma attorney with over 30 years of experience. "The bodies were always there. Someone just had to decide they mattered." Resources: → Asbestos Exposure Pathways: https://dandell.com/asbestos-exposure/ → Attorney Rod De Llano: https://dandell.com/rod-de-llano/ → Mesothelioma Compensation Options: https://dandell.com/mesothelioma-compensation/ → Free Consultation: https://dandell.com/contact-us/ About this series: Asbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making traces the full history of asbestos—from 4700 BCE Finnish pottery to the 2024 EPA ban—revealing how corporations suppressed evidence while workers died. Produced by Danziger Asbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making is sponsored by Danziger & De Llano Mesothelioma Law Firm, a nationwide practice with over 30 years of experience and nearly $2 billion recovered for asbestos victims. If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, the exposure happened somewhere—and Paul Danziger and Rod De Llano know how to trace it back. For a free consultation, visit https://dandell.com. Resources: → Mesothelioma legal rights: https://dandell.com/mesothelioma/ → Asbestos exposure sources: https://dandell.com/asbestos-exposure/ → Asbestos trust funds ($30B+ available): https://dandell.com/asbestos-trust-funds/ → Free case evaluation: https://dandell.com/contact/ Sister Podcast - MESO: The Mesothelioma Podcast: http://mesotheliomapodcast.com/

    20 min
  3. Episode 9: The Myth That Wouldn't Die — How Science Finally Killed the Salamander Legend

    JAN 19

    Episode 9: The Myth That Wouldn't Die — How Science Finally Killed the Salamander Legend

    When did science finally kill the salamander myth? Not in 1646, when Thomas Browne published his famous debunking—the myth was already dead by then. Renaissance physicians had been burning salamanders and publishing the results since 1537. Browne's contribution was compiling evidence that was nearly a century old. The real question: why did it take 350 years for Marco Polo's explicit 1298 debunking to reach English scholars? This episode closes our three-part examination of the salamander legend by tracing how myths persist even when evidence contradicts them. In this episode: Pietro Andrea Mattioli's 1554 salamander experiment—published in a book that sold 32,000 copies, the Renaissance's bestsellerThe "citation laundering" that kept Polo's debunking out of English translations for 350 yearsThe Royal Society's 1684 experiments with asbestos cloth, measured down to the grainWhy the Salamander Association formed in the 1900s—six years after physicians documented lung disease in asbestos workers (1897)How 54 years separated Werner's 1774 mineralogy textbook from the first US asbestos patent—and the industrial era that followedWho this episode is for: History enthusiasts interested in how misinformation persists across centuries. Researchers tracing the asbestos industry's knowledge timeline. Family members of mesothelioma patients seeking to understand the corporate cover-up's deep roots. Anyone who's wondered how workers could be exposed for decades before anyone "officially" knew the dangers. Expert perspective: "The salamander myth didn't leave a paper trail. The asbestos industry did," notes Paul Danziger, founding partner of Danziger & De Llano with over 30 years of mesothelioma litigation experience. "Understanding how misinformation persisted helps us trace how companies suppressed evidence—and why those documents matter in court today." Resources:  → Mesothelioma overview: https://dandell.com/mesothelioma/  → Asbestos exposure sources: https://dandell.com/asbestos-exposure/  → Free consultation: https://dandell.com/contact-us/ About the sponsor: Danziger & De Llano is a nationwide mesothelioma law firm with over 30 years of experience and nearly $2 billion recovered for asbestos victims. The team includes advocates who have lost their own family members to asbestos-related diseases—Dave Foster lost his father to asbestos lung cancer; Anna Jackson lost her husband. For a free consultation, visit dandell.com. Asbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making is sponsored by Danziger & De Llano Mesothelioma Law Firm, a nationwide practice with over 30 years of experience and nearly $2 billion recovered for asbestos victims. If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, the exposure happened somewhere—and Paul Danziger and Rod De Llano know how to trace it back. For a free consultation, visit https://dandell.com. Resources: → Mesothelioma legal rights: https://dandell.com/mesothelioma/ → Asbestos exposure sources: https://dandell.com/asbestos-exposure/ → Asbestos trust funds ($30B+ available): https://dandell.com/asbestos-trust-funds/ → Free case evaluation: https://dandell.com/contact/ Sister Podcast - MESO: The Mesothelioma Podcast: http://mesotheliomapodcast.com/

    17 min
  4. Episode 8: Marco Polo's Inconvenient Truth — The Ghost in the Manuscripts

    JAN 12

    Episode 8: Marco Polo's Inconvenient Truth — The Ghost in the Manuscripts

    Description In 1298, Marco Polo named his source: a Turkish mining supervisor called Zurficar who spent three years directing asbestos operations for Kublai Khan. There's just one problem — Zurficar appears in no Chinese, Persian, or Mongol records. He exists in 150 manuscript copies of one document and nowhere else. Episode 8 of Asbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making investigates why Marco Polo's detailed, accurate account of asbestos production stands virtually alone in the historical record — and why his debunking of the salamander myth failed to displace four centuries of institutional authority. In this episode: The Genoese prison cell where Marco Polo dictated his memoirs to an Arthurian romance writer who'd been imprisoned for fourteen yearsZurficar — the named eyewitness who described mining, processing, and fire-cleaning asbestos cloth, yet left no trace in any other historical recordChinese documentation of "fire-wash cloth" from 237 CE — a thousand years before Marco Polo — complete with their own mythology about fire mice instead of salamandersWhy the nickname "Il Milione" (Marco of the Million Lies) first appears in 1559, 235 years after Marco Polo's death — and evidence his contemporaries actually believed himChristopher Columbus's annotated copy of Marco Polo's Travels, with 366 handwritten notes including a reference to the asbestos passageThe Vatican's asbestos cloth that Marco Polo attributed to Kublai Khan — which actually came from a Roman-era pagan tomb on the Appian WayWhy 350 years passed before physician Thomas Browne finally threw a salamander in a fire and proved Marco Polo rightMarco Polo documented what medieval institutions — trade, law, church — never bothered to write down. A material too rare to trade, too exotic to prosecute, too foreign to archive. The institutions that create records never captured it. Next episode: Thomas Browne throws a salamander into a fire. The myth that wouldn't die finally does. Resources Understanding Asbestos Exposure: https://dandell.com/asbestos-exposure/ Mesothelioma Compensation Options: https://dandell.com/mesothelioma-compensation/ About the Firm: https://dandell.com/about/ Free Consultation: https://dandell.com/contact-us/ Asbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making is sponsored by Danziger & De Llano Mesothelioma Law Firm, a nationwide practice with over 30 years of experience and nearly $2 billion recovered for asbestos victims. If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, the exposure happened somewhere—and Paul Danziger and Rod De Llano know how to trace it back. For a free consultation, visit https://dandell.com. Resources: → Mesothelioma legal rights: https://dandell.com/mesothelioma/ → Asbestos exposure sources: https://dandell.com/asbestos-exposure/ → Asbestos trust funds ($30B+ available): https://dandell.com/asbestos-trust-funds/ → Free case evaluation: https://dandell.com/contact/ Sister Podcast - MESO: The Mesothelioma Podcast: http://mesotheliomapodcast.com/

    17 min
  5. Episode 7: Holy Relics & Royal Tablecloths

    JAN 5

    Episode 7: Holy Relics & Royal Tablecloths

    Episode Description In 1165, a forged letter invented an explanation for fireproof cloth that would dominate European belief for 500 years. The Letter of Prester John—supposedly from a mythical Christian king—claimed asbestos cloth was woven from salamander cocoons. It was propaganda. It was fake. And 469 surviving manuscripts prove it went medieval viral. In this episode:The Prester John Letter (c. 1165): A forged document invents the salamander-asbestos connection—469 surviving manuscripts spread across Latin, French, German, Italian, Hebrew, Serbian, and RussianMedieval encyclopedias as misinformation engines: Vincent of Beauvais's Speculum Maius (4.5 million words) and Bartholomaeus Anglicus's De proprietatibus rerum (9 printings before 1500) gave the myth institutional authorityThe one skeptic nobody believed: Albertus Magnus identified "itinerant peddlers" inventing the salamander story to charge higher prices—but encyclopedia beat eyewitnessWhy misinformation wins: Demonstrable fire resistance + geological rarity + Church theology = a medieval business model that mirrors modern asbestos industry tacticsThe Pattern: When mesothelioma attorney Rod De Llano reviews corporate documents from the 1930s, he sees the same structure: institutional authority, commercial incentive, and deliberate confusion. "They knew the salamander story was false by 1298," he notes. "They kept selling it anyway." Understanding Your Legal Options If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, the history of corporate deception matters to your case. Danziger & De Llano has recovered nearly $2 billion for asbestos victims by documenting how companies knew about asbestos dangers and concealed them.Learn about mesothelioma compensationUnderstand asbestos exposure sourcesRead client testimonialsRequest a free consultationOur client advocates—including Dave Foster, who lost his father to asbestos lung cancer; Larry Gates, who lost his father to mesothelioma and is currently battling cancer himself; and Anna Jackson, whose husband died of cancer—understand what your family is going through.Asbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making is sponsored by Danziger & De Llano Mesothelioma Law Firm, a nationwide practice with over 30 years of experience and nearly $2 billion recovered for asbestos victims. If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, the exposure happened somewhere—and Paul Danziger and Rod De Llano know how to trace it back. For a free consultation, visit https://dandell.com. Resources: → Mesothelioma legal rights: https://dandell.com/mesothelioma/ → Asbestos exposure sources: https://dandell.com/asbestos-exposure/ → Asbestos trust funds ($30B+ available): https://dandell.com/asbestos-trust-funds/ → Free case evaluation: https://dandell.com/contact/ Sister Podcast - MESO: The Mesothelioma Podcast: http://mesotheliomapodcast.com/

    20 min
  6. Episode 6: What the Ancients Left Behind

    12/29/2025

    Episode 6: What the Ancients Left Behind

    Ancient writers described asbestos cloth in extraordinary detail—funeral shrouds for emperors, fire-cleaned napkins for Roman banquets, eternal lamp wicks for Greek temples. But when archaeologists search for physical evidence, they find almost nothing. The Mediterranean sources that documented asbestos obsessively left no artifacts behind.  This is the paradox at the heart of ancient asbestos history. And it's the template for everything that comes after: evidence that should exist but doesn't, documentation that conveniently disappears, questions nobody thought to ask until it was too late. In this Arc 1 finale, we examine: Why systematic archaeological surveys at Karystos (Greece)—375+ sites, 9,000+ artifacts—found zero evidence of the asbestos production ancient writers describedHow Finnish Neolithic pottery provides better physical evidence of ancient asbestos use than all Mediterranean literary sources combinedWhat we can actually verify (Byzantine 1196 AD, Franklin's 1725 purse) versus claims that circulate without primary documentationThe pattern matters today. The same gap between what was known and what was documented—between evidence that existed and evidence that survived—shaped how asbestos companies operated in the 20th century. Internal memos buried. Health studies suppressed. Workers kept in the dark for decades. If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, the attorneys at Danziger & De Llano have spent 30+ years uncovering the evidence asbestos companies tried to hide. Unlike ancient sources, modern corporate paper trails don't disappear—if you know where to look. Resources from Danziger & De Llano: → Understanding your mesothelioma diagnosis: https://dandell.com/mesothelioma/  → Common asbestos exposure sources by occupation: https://dandell.com/asbestos-exposure/  → Asbestos trust funds ($30+ billion available): https://dandell.com/asbestos-trust-funds/  → Veterans and mesothelioma (30% of cases): https://dandell.com/veterans-mesothelioma/  → Free case evaluation: https://dandell.com/contact/ Book: "Beating The Odds: Surviving with Mesothelioma" by Dave Foster — Real survival stories from patients given months to live. Available on Amazon or request a free copy from the firm. Related listening: Katherine Keys, the longest documented mesothelioma survivor (18+ years), shares her story in a three-part interview on our sister podcast, MESO: The Mesothelioma Podcast. Asbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making is sponsored by Danziger & De Llano Mesothelioma Law Firm, a nationwide practice with over 30 years of experience and nearly $2 billion recovered for asbestos victims. If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, the exposure happened somewhere—and Paul Danziger and Rod De Llano know how to trace it back. For a free consultation, visit https://dandell.com. Resources: → Mesothelioma legal rights: https://dandell.com/mesothelioma/ → Asbestos exposure sources: https://dandell.com/asbestos-exposure/ → Asbestos trust funds ($30B+ available): https://dandell.com/asbestos-trust-funds/ → Free case evaluation: https://dandell.com/contact/ Sister Podcast - MESO: The Mesothelioma Podcast: http://mesotheliomapodcast.com/

    22 min
  7. Episode 5: The Economics of Magic

    12/22/2025

    Episode 5: The Economics of Magic

    Episode Title: Episode 5: The Economics of Magic—What Fireproof Cloth Cost the Ancient World Episode Number: 5 Season: 1 Publish Date: December 22, 2025 Episode Description Medieval monks once paid a fortune for what they believed was the towel Jesus used at the Last Supper. The proof? It wouldn't burn. It was asbestos—a mineral worth more than pearls in the ancient world, and the foundation of a 4,000-year con. In Episode 5 of Asbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making, we follow the money behind the "magic mineral"—from Cleopatra's 60-million-sesterces pearl collection to the enslaved workers whose suffering never made it into the historical record. In this episode: Why Pliny the Elder compared asbestos cloth to "exceptional pearls"—and what that meant when a single pearl cost six times the Roman Senate qualification thresholdThe two tiny places on Earth—Karystos, Greece and Cyprus—that controlled the ancient asbestos supply, and why Emperor Augustus seized them as imperial property in 17 CEHow the 1:5:28 cost ratio for ancient transport (sea to river to land) determined which asbestos sources were economically viableThe invisible labor chain: enslaved miners sentenced to "damnatio ad metalla" and women spinners whose grave markers are all we know about themWhy no one in antiquity could have detected the pattern that now kills 3,000 Americans annually—the 20-50 year latency period between asbestos exposure and mesothelioma diagnosis made the connection impossible to traceHow Pliny believed asbestos was a plant growing in Indian deserts "amid terrible serpents"—and why that myth served everyone selling itWho this episode is for: Anyone curious about how rare commodities become vehicles for deception—and how economic incentives shaped what ancient sources chose to record (and ignore) about dangerous materials. Resources: Understanding asbestos exposure sources: https://dandell.com/asbestos-exposure/Mesothelioma overview and diagnosis: https://dandell.com/mesothelioma/Free consultation for asbestos-related illness: https://dandell.com/Coming in Episode 6: What the ancients left behind—Finnish pottery shards, the absence of mesothelioma in ancient remains, and the Amiantos site in Cyprus where modern mining began over ancient footprints. Asbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making is sponsored by Danziger & De Llano Mesothelioma Law Firm, a nationwide practice with over 30 years of experience and nearly $2 billion recovered for asbestos victims. If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, the exposure happened somewhere—and Paul Danziger and Rod De Llano know how to trace it back. For a free consultation, visit https://dandell.com. Resources: → Mesothelioma legal rights: https://dandell.com/mesothelioma/ → Asbestos exposure sources: https://dandell.com/asbestos-exposure/ → Asbestos trust funds ($30B+ available): https://dandell.com/asbestos-trust-funds/ → Free case evaluation: https://dandell.com/contact/ Sister Podcast - MESO: The Mesothelioma Podcast: http://mesotheliomapodcast.com/

    22 min
  8. Episode 4: The First Victims? The Pliny Mistranslation That Fooled Scholars for a Century

    12/15/2025

    Episode 4: The First Victims? The Pliny Mistranslation That Fooled Scholars for a Century

    Did ancient Romans know asbestos was dangerous? The widely-cited "proof"—Pliny the Elder's passage about workers wearing bladder-skin masks—is a mistranslation.  The passage appears in Natural History Book 33, Chapter 40, which discusses cinnabar (mercury sulfide) workers, not asbestos. Scholars Browne and Murray documented this correction in The Lancet in 1990, yet the myth persists in textbooks, litigation documents, and Wikipedia. This episode examines why ancient observers couldn't have connected asbestos to disease: mesothelioma's 20-50 year latency period exceeded Roman life expectancy of 25-40 years for laborers. In this episode: The famous "bladder-mask" quote and its century-long misattribution to asbestos workersWhy Pliny's Natural History Book 33 describes mercury poisoning, not asbestos exposureStrabo's "sickness of the lungs" passage: another misattribution (arsenic mines in Pontus, not asbestos)The latency problem: 20-50 years for mesothelioma vs. 25-40 year ancient lifespansWhat we know about slave labor in ancient asbestos productionWhy the absence of ancient documentation isn't a cover-up—it's the limits of observationWho this episode is for: History enthusiasts, researchers investigating asbestos exposure claims, and anyone who has encountered the claim that "the Romans knew asbestos was deadly 2,000 years ago." Sources cited: Pliny the Elder's Natural History (c. 77 CE), Strabo's Geography (c. 20 CE), Browne & Murray's "Asbestos and the Romans" (The Lancet, 1990), Bianchi & Bianchi (La Medicina del lavoro, 2015). Resources: What Is Mesothelioma? — Learn about symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment optionsMesothelioma Latency Period — Why symptoms appear 20-50 years after exposureAsbestos Exposure History — Common exposure sources and occupations at riskMeet Our Team — Paul Danziger, Dave Foster, Anna Jackson, and the patient advocacy teamFree Consultation — Talk to someone who understands what you're facingLearn more: Dandell.com Asbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making is sponsored by Danziger & De Llano Mesothelioma Law Firm, a nationwide practice with over 30 years of experience and nearly $2 billion recovered for asbestos victims. If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, the exposure happened somewhere—and Paul Danziger and Rod De Llano know how to trace it back. For a free consultation, visit https://dandell.com. Resources: → Mesothelioma legal rights: https://dandell.com/mesothelioma/ → Asbestos exposure sources: https://dandell.com/asbestos-exposure/ → Asbestos trust funds ($30B+ available): https://dandell.com/asbestos-trust-funds/ → Free case evaluation: https://dandell.com/contact/ Sister Podcast - MESO: The Mesothelioma Podcast: http://mesotheliomapodcast.com/

    10 min
  9. Episode 3: Sacred Fire — When Asbestos Became Divine

    12/12/2025

    Episode 3: Sacred Fire — When Asbestos Became Divine

    Around 400 BCE, the sculptor Callimachus—nicknamed "katatêxitechnos" (the perfectionist) by the Athenians—created a golden lamp for the Erechtheion temple in Athens that burned continuously before the statue of Athena. The secret: an asbestos wick that never consumed itself. Oil refills were required only once per year. This is one of the earliest verified uses of asbestos technology, documented in the primary source account of Greek traveler Pausanias (c. 150 CE). In this episode, we examine the verified historical record of asbestos in the ancient Mediterranean—and separate fact from persistent myth. Topics covered: Pausanias's firsthand account of the golden lamp of Athena in his Description of Greece (Book 1.26.6–7)Why the claim that Vestal Virgins used asbestos wicks has no primary source evidence—Plutarch's Life of Numa describes wood, oil, and incense instead"Linum vivum" (live linen): Pliny the Elder's account of asbestos napkins fire-cleaned at Roman banquets (Natural History, c. 77 CE)Dioscorides' De Materia Medica (c. 50-70 CE): reusable napkins sold to theater patrons, fire-cleaned between performances, and resold the next nightStrabo's independent confirmation of fire-cleaned towels from Karystos, Greece (Geography, Book X)Royal funeral shrouds: how asbestos cloth preserved cremation ashes separate from the pyrePliny's valuation: asbestos cloth "equals the prices of exceptional pearls"coverWho this episode is for: Anyone researching the ancient history of asbestos, the Vestal Virgin eternal flame, Pliny the Elder's writings on minerals, Dioscorides' De Materia Medica, or the use of asbestos in Greek and Roman religious practice. Sources cited: Pausanias, Description of Greece (c. 150 CE)Pliny the Elder, Natural History (c. 77 CE)Dioscorides, De Materia Medica (c. 50-70 CE)Strabo, Geography (c. 1st century BCE/CE)Plutarch, Life of NumaVitruvius, De Architectura (Callimachus nickname source)Loeb Classical Library scholarly annotationsNext episode preview: The "sickness of the lungs" passage everyone cites—and why it may not be about asbestos at all. What Pliny actually wrote, and the mistranslation that persisted for over a century. Resources Learn more about asbestos-related diseases: Dandell.comMesothelioma legal resources: Dandell.com/mesotheliomaAsbestos exposure sources: Dandell.com/asbestos-exposureAsbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making is sponsored by Danziger & De Llano Mesothelioma Law Firm, a nationwide practice with over 30 years of experience and nearly $2 billion recovered for asbestos victims. If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, the exposure happened somewhere—and Paul Danziger and Rod De Llano know how to trace it back. For a free consultation, visit https://dandell.com. Resources: → Mesothelioma legal rights: https://dandell.com/mesothelioma/ → Asbestos exposure sources: https://dandell.com/asbestos-exposure/ → Asbestos trust funds ($30B+ available): https://dandell.com/asbestos-trust-funds/ → Free case evaluation: https://dandell.com/contact/ Sister Podcast - MESO: The Mesothelioma Podcast: http://mesotheliomapodcast.com/

    10 min
  10. Episode 2: Discovery & Wonder—The 7,000-Year Origin Story They Got Wrong

    12/11/2025

    Episode 2: Discovery & Wonder—The 7,000-Year Origin Story They Got Wrong

    Archaeological evidence from Finnish Neolithic sites pushes the first known human use of asbestos back to 4700–5000 BCE—nearly two thousand years earlier than commonly cited, and predating both the Egyptian pyramids and Stonehenge. In Episode 2 of Asbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making, we separate archaeological fact from historical myth—correcting widespread misconceptions about ancient asbestos while tracing its journey from Stone Age pottery to medieval legend. 5 Ancient Asbestos Myths Exposed in This Episode: The origin date is wrong by 2,000 years — Peer-reviewed archaeology from Lake Saimaa, Finland reveals asbestos-tempered pottery dated to 4700–5000 BCE, not the commonly cited 2500 BCE. These vessels contained 50–90% mineral fiber content.Egyptian pharaohs were NOT wrapped in asbestos — Despite appearing in countless histories, zero archaeological evidence supports asbestos mummy wrappings. Biomolecular analyses confirm linen from flax plants, not mineral fibers.The salamander myth was a medieval invention — The Letter of Prester John (c. 1165), a famous forgery, introduced the false claim that asbestos was "salamander wool." This myth persisted 500+ years despite Marco Polo debunking it in 1280."Asbestos" is technically the wrong word — The original Greek term was "amiantos" (meaning "undefiled"). "Asbestos" (meaning "unquenchable") originally described quicklime—Pliny the Elder's mistranslation stuck for 2,000 years.Benjamin Franklin perpetuated the salamander myth in the 1720s — Even during the Enlightenment, Franklin sold "salamander cotton" purses in London. Sir Thomas Browne's 1642 Pseudodoxia Epidemica had debunked the myth 80 years earlier.Why Asbestos History Matters for Mesothelioma Families: 3,000 Americans are diagnosed with mesothelioma annually — Understanding mesothelioma diagnosis and legal options20–50 year latency period between asbestos exposure and diagnosis — Common asbestos exposure sources by occupation$30+ billion available in asbestos trust funds for victims — How to file asbestos trust fund claims30 years of experience and nearly $2 billion recovered — Danziger & De Llano represents mesothelioma families nationwide — Free case evaluationAbout This Series: Asbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making traces the complete history—from ancient wonder material to the largest corporate cover-up in American history. Subscribe to follow the full story. Companion Podcast: Asbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making is sponsored by Danziger & De Llano Mesothelioma Law Firm, a nationwide practice with over 30 years of experience and nearly $2 billion recovered for asbestos victims. If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, the exposure happened somewhere—and Paul Danziger and Rod De Llano know how to trace it back. For a free consultation, visit https://dandell.com. Resources: → Mesothelioma legal rights: https://dandell.com/mesothelioma/ → Asbestos exposure sources: https://dandell.com/asbestos-exposure/ → Asbestos trust funds ($30B+ available): https://dandell.com/asbestos-trust-funds/ → Free case evaluation: https://dandell.com/contact/ Sister Podcast - MESO: The Mesothelioma Podcast: http://mesotheliomapodcast.com/

    10 min

  11. SEASON 1 TRAILER

    Season 1 Preview: Inside The 4,500-Year Asbestos Conspiracy

    Between 1930 and 1980, asbestos was used in more than 4,000 consumer products—from the fake snow in “The Wizard of Oz” (1939) to toasters, hair dryers, crayons, ironing board covers, and Kent Micronite cigarette filters. Over 3,000 Americans are diagnosed with mesothelioma every year, and the exposed often don’t develop symptoms for 20 to 50 years after their first contact with the mineral. This season preview of Asbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making maps the investigative journey ahead—from Stone Age Finland (2500 BCE) through the September 11, 2001 attacks, where 400+ tons of asbestos were pulverized into lower Manhattan air. What we’ll cover this season: • The exposed products in your home: Asbestos exposure occurred through artificial fireplace embers, Christmas tree decorations, vermiculite garden soil (Libby, Montana), oven mitts, brake pads, and talc-based cosmetics—the FDA found asbestos contamination in Claire’s makeup products as recently as 2019 • The 1935 Sumner Simpson letter: The Raybestos-Manhattan president wrote “the less said about asbestos, the better off we are”—a document that became Exhibit A in thousands of lawsuits against Johns-Manville and the asbestos industry • The 1943 suppressed mouse study: Dr. LeRoy Gardner at Saranac Laboratory found an 81.8% tumor rate in asbestos-exposed mice—Johns-Manville executives ordered him not to publish, and the research stayed buried until his death in 1946 • The “dropped dead” deposition: In 1984, witness Charles Roemer testified that Johns-Manville executive Lewis Brown said the company would let workers “work until they dropped dead” because “we save a lot of money that way” • The September 11 mystery: The World Trade Center North Tower (with asbestos fireproofing on floors 1-38) stood for 102 minutes after impact; the South Tower (built after New York City’s 1970 asbestos ban, with no asbestos) collapsed in 56 minutes—and over 44,000 people have since been diagnosed with 9/11-related cancers • The city called Asbest: A Russian city of 70,000 people sits beside the world’s largest open-pit asbestos mine (7 miles long), with cancer rates 20-40% higher than surrounding regions—and an asbestos museum as a tourist attraction • The $30+ billion in asbestos trust funds: Exposed workers and families can file for mesothelioma compensation through bankruptcy trusts established by Johns-Manville (1986), W.R. Grace, and dozens of other manufacturers—plus VA disability benefits for the nearly 30% of mesothelioma patients who are military veterans From Pliny the Elder docu Asbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making is sponsored by Danziger & De Llano Mesothelioma Law Firm, a nationwide practice with over 30 years of experience and nearly $2 billion recovered for asbestos victims. If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, the exposure happened somewhere—and Paul Danziger and Rod De Llano know how to trace it back. For a free consultation, visit https://dandell.com. Resources: → Mesothelioma legal rights: https://dandell.com/mesothelioma/ → Asbestos exposure sources: https://dandell.com/asbestos-exposure/ → Asbestos trust funds ($30B+ available): https://dandell.com/asbestos-trust-funds/ → Free case evaluation: https://dandell.com/contact/ Sister Podcast - MESO: The Mesothelioma Podcast: http://mesotheliomapodcast.com/

    2 min
  12. Episode 1: How A "Magic" Mineral Became A 4,500-Year Cover-Up

    12/09/2025

    Episode 1: How A "Magic" Mineral Became A 4,500-Year Cover-Up

    The North Tower of the World Trade Center stood for 102 minutes after impact. The South Tower collapsed in 56. One had asbestos fireproofing. One didn't. In 4,500 years of asbestos killing people, could September 11th be the one day it saved lives? That question opens this series—and this episode takes us back to where it all began. Roman historian Pliny the Elder documented asbestos workers dying from "sickness of the lungs" nearly 2,000 years ago, watching slaves fashion crude respirators from animal bladders to filter the dust. They knew. The pattern of knowing and ignoring has continued ever since. In this premiere episode of Asbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making, we trace humanity's relationship with the mineral the ancient Greeks named "asbestos"—meaning indestructible. From Finnish Stone Age pottery (2500 BCE) to Roman tablecloths that cleaned themselves in fire, we uncover how wonder became denial, and denial became catastrophe. Together, we explore: • The first documented warnings: Pliny the Elder's account of asbestos weavers dying while creating what he called "funeral dress for kings"—and the bladder-skin masks they wore in a futile attempt at protection • The salamander myth that lasted 2,000 years: How Aristotle's 350 BCE writings spawned a legend that asbestos was woven from fire-lizard skin—a myth that persisted even after Marco Polo debunked it in 1280, and why Benjamin Franklin still advertised "salamander cotton" purses 450 years later • Sacred flames and lethal stakes: The asbestos wicks that kept Athena's golden lamp burning in ancient Athens (requiring oil refills only once per year) and Rome's Vestal flame that burned for over 1,000 years—where letting it die meant being buried alive • The pattern that explains everything: How the people closest to the dust always understood the danger while those farthest away admired the spectacle—the same dynamic that enabled the longest corporate cover-up in history This is the first chapter of a story that spans Stone Age Finland to Russian propaganda, ancient temples to the World Trade Center, dying slaves to dying workers to dying veterans. The mineral changed. The excuses didn't. For more information about asbestos exposure and its health effects, visit https://dandell.com/asbestos-exposure/ To understand mesothelioma—the cancer most associated with asbestos—visit https://dandell.com/mesothelioma/ Asbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making is sponsored by Danziger & De Llano Mesothelioma Law Firm, a nationwide practice with over 30 years of experience and nearly $2 billion recovered for asbestos victims. If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, the exposure happened somewhere—and Paul Danziger and Rod De Llano know how to trace it back. For a free consultation, visit https://dandell.com. Resources: → Mesothelioma legal rights: https://dandell.com/mesothelioma/ → Asbestos exposure sources: https://dandell.com/asbestos-exposure/ → Asbestos trust funds ($30B+ available): https://dandell.com/asbestos-trust-funds/ → Free case evaluation: https://dandell.com/contact/ Sister Podcast - MESO: The Mesothelioma Podcast: http://mesotheliomapodcast.com/

    7 min

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They knew. They always knew. Nearly 2,000 years ago, Roman historian Pliny the Elder documented asbestos workers dying from "sickness of the lungs"—watching slaves fashion crude respirators from animal bladders while weaving what he called "funeral dress for kings." The people closest to the dust understood the danger. The people farthest away admired the spectacle, collected the profits, and buried the evidence. That pattern never changed. Asbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making traces humanity's 4,500-year relationship with the mineral the ancient Greeks named "asbestos"—meaning indestructible. From Stone Age Finnish pottery (2500 BCE) to the $70+ billion in legal damages paid by modern corporations, we uncover how a material praised for safety became a source of sickness, litigation, and grief. Each episode explores: Ancient origins: The salamander myth that persisted for 2,000 years, the Roman tablecloths that cleaned themselves in fire, the sacred flames kept burning with asbestos wicks The industrial cover-up: Internal documents proving companies knew asbestos caused cancer since the 1930s—and suppressed the evidence for 40 years Modern consequences: Why mesothelioma claims 3,000 American lives annually, and why $30+ billion sits in asbestos trust funds waiting for victims who never file The science of denial: How manufactured doubt delayed regulation for decades, using the same tactics as the tobacco industry—sometimes with the same scientists Whether you're a history enthusiast, legal professional, medical researcher, or someone seeking answers after asbestos exposure, this podcast reveals the uncomfortable truth: the longest-running industrial cover-up in human history isn't ancient history. It's still happening. The History of Asbestos Podcast is sponsored by Danziger & De Llano, a nationwide mesothelioma law firm with over 30 years of experience and nearly $2 billion recovered for asbestos victims.  If you or a loved one has mesothelioma, visit Dandell.com for a free consultation.

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