Scatter Brained

03
  (Wolves in) Sheep Suits,
or Pretty Lousy Ideas that Seemed Pretty 
Great at the Time
ASBESTOS
From the Greek for “inextinguishable,” asbestos has a long 
and mostly proud history of fl ame resistance and insulation. 
Charlemagne allegedly had an asbestos tablecloth that he 
would gleefully clean by tossing it in the fi replace. Incidence 
of lung cancer among his household staff  is sadly unavailable. 
In later years, however, we came to learn that our old friend 
asbestos, now in the insulation business, had been fi lling our 
indoor air with innumerable evil little mineral shards. Some 
buildings in the U.S. constructed as late as 1986 contain as-
bestos in their ceilings, but they only pose a risk if the fi bers 
break off  into the air. Incidentally, asbestos insulation is 
still
 
legal in Canada, partly because it is widely mined in the Ca-
nadian wilderness.
THALIDOMIDE
Pregnant women deserve a good night’s sleep, not to mention 
relief from morning sickness. And the makers of thalidomide 
wanted to give it to them. Th
  ey also didn’t want to waste too 
much of those women’s valuable time on boring fetal safety 
testing,  so  they  conveniently  skipped  that  part.  Unfortu-
nately, thalidomide wound up causing birth defects in about