Vermiculite

So a local company is tearing down an old hotel. They find vermiculite in the walls that is used as sound proffing. They conduct tests on the vermiculite and find it contains asbestos, now our local paper prints a story and a commenter posts this:

vermiculite is a mined product and it is cross contaminated at source in some mines with asbestos which again is a naturaly occuring miniral..

Is this something we sould all be concerned about? I know of several people whom were in the demolision business and have died from asbestos exposure related illnesses.

Vermiculite and perlite can give you lung cancer. Always soak it before handling it! Avoid any inhalation, the cancer is called Mesothelioma. Most people die within 3 months after they are diagnosed! You need to be exposed to a lot of dust for a long period of time for it to harm you. Either way, be careful!

I've read that Perlite is not guilty of this, and had been deemed safe. I believe they have their MSDS on their website.