Natural minerals have issues too but taking it off the State Rock list does nothing to eliminate it’s existence as there’s no way to rid the world of the rock, Serpentine. Asbestos occurs naturally in many minerals and I guess if you took a sledgehammer to a rock you could inhale some dangerous dust. It’s like the asbestos
s in your house, ok until you disturb it.
So why is is controversy taking place, money of course. Scientists and lawyers would benefit to investigate. This is actually kind of a silly bill as removing it from the State Rock list does nothing other than to make a political issue and find a way to carve out some funds out of a state budget that is already broke. I think other issues are more pressing right now and the symbol of the rock being a health hazard could easily take the back seat. BD
LOS ANGELES — Empirically speaking, geologists are not a particularly irascible group. But those who make their living studying rocks, minerals and gems in California — and increasingly those scientists beyond the state’s borders — are enraged over a bill in Sacramento that would knock serpentine, the official state rock, off its mantel.
The lawmaker and others who would like to see serpentine stripped of its title say the olive green rock found all over the state is a grim symbol of the deadly cancers associated with asbestos, which can be found in the rock.
Declaring that serpentine “has known health effects,” the bill would leave California — one of roughly half the states in the nation with an official rock or mineral — without an official rock.
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