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Re: Rock wool or fiberglass (for absorbing panels) ?

How hard it is for rockwool fibres to travel through polyester batting depends on the size of the rockwool fibre and the density and thickness of the batting. As fibre size and/or batting density and thickness increase, the chance of migration through the batting decreases. As fibre size and/or batting density and thickness decrease, the possibility of migration through the batting increases. The worst case scenario is small fibres with a thin, low density polyester batting layer.

Bear in mind that the rockwool is not going to break down into loose fibres easily or quickly. Most fibre release occurs because of damage like contact abrasion or cutting/splitting. As Ken's Data Sheet says: "Evaporation at 20°C is negligible; a harmful concentration of airborne particles can, however, be reached quickly." What that is saying is that the material itself is stable and doesn't evaporate at that temperature, but it's also saying that when things do happen, regardless of the cause, a harmful concentration can be reached very quickly - and that's because the recommended threshold exposure limit is quite low at 1 fibre per cc of air. That's very easily reached at close proximity to the area where breakup is occurring.

As to it being "easy these days to label a certain product as "possibly carcinogenic"", I have to ask is it really that easy? Not for the manufacturer who would prefer not to have to label their product that way because it tends to put off customers. Such labelling is usually only there because it is required by law and it tends only to be required by law when there is some evidence for the claim. I think you can take such claims at face value - the product is possibly carcinogenic. That means that there is some evidence to suggest that it may be implicated in causing cancer - respiratory cancer of some kind in the case of rockwool - but the evidence is not yet conclusive and the matter is still under investigation and such investigations can and often do take years. The reason labelling is required before conclusive proof exists is because of our experience with asbestos which has been a major cancer disaster that no one wants to repeat. Better to put the warning out there and encourage people to use alternatives with no known adverse effects if there is a suitable alternative than to not issue the warning, have rockwool use become as common as asbestos use once was, and have an epidemic incidence of cancer some years down the track and an even bigger problem then removing and replacing the rockwool that is in use at that time since removal and replacement are very high risk activities for the people doing them.

Properly wrapped in batting, the risk to you is going to be low. If you have inquisitive pets like cats and dogs in the house which are likely to disturb the wrapped rockwool by scratching, or young children who may damage it in play, the risk goes up considerably. If you have children I would simply tend to avoid it as a matter of principle. Any fibre release is likely to eventually settle on the floor as dust and children tend to play on the floor where they will stir up the dust and they are in close proximity to the floor so if there are any fibres in the dust, fibre concentration is going to be higher in the child's breathing zone than it is likely to be in the breathing zone for a seated or standing adult. It's one thing to make a risk decision for yourself and it's a very different thing to make a risk decision for someone else who has no say in the matter.


David Aiken

(who once worked in occupational health and safety and had to deal with asbestos issues on a couple of occasions)

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