[standupfortruth]

Is there any surprise here...the entire nation is symbolism over sustance....

[drc43]

I wonder what has happened over the years to the occupants of this building? Any studies?

[MadIvan]

And the Pompidou Centre is considered ugly enough to render one blind:

No, that's the actual building, not the scaffolding.

Regards, Ivan

[bmwcyle]

No comment, it would only show my lack of sympathy.

[MAEsser]

I hate to bring this up, but were there any substantive findings to the rumors of asbestos in the WTC?

[MAEsser]

Oh, and did anyone else read that headline as "cancer crap?" /slightly lisdexic

[NYCRebublican]

If it's not friable it's not really an issue. People hear the word Asbestos and they jump out of their skin. I doubt this building has that much friable (easily carried and distributed in the air) asbestos. Most often it can be encapsulated to prevent it from getting into the air.

It use to crack me up when all the parents of New York City were up in arms over asbestos in the schools. They were protesting and calling for the administrators heads, then they would head home to their pre-60's constructed homes covered in asbestos shingling, asbestos flashing and mastic, asbestos ceiling tiles, pipe wrapping etc., and they didn't even know it. Not to mention the lead paint peeling off the walls.

[1stFreedom]

There goes France surrendering again.. to asbestos....

[Petronski]

Le Tour Montparnasse is also a horrible eyesore--the only modern skyscraper in an otherwise historic district.

Imagine the Trump Towers on Capitol Hill.

If they have to knock the damn thing down, all the better.

[nikos1121]

I'm shocked...

[AlexW]

"A powerful carcinogenic, it is considered responsible for about 4000 deaths a year in France."

I think this is a lot of BS...I am 60..I grew up with Asbestos all around me in school and other buildings.
I have never known it to kill anyone, or make them sick, other then reported disease with asbestos workers in mills that made asbestos products.
Too much of anything will kill you.
I would not be the least bit worried about walking in a building full of asbestos.

[dalereed]

"the lawyer for the unions representing the building's employees"

It's a lawyers disease not a health issue!

30-40 years ago I breathed hundreds of pounds of dry asbestos when we were mixing 1 quart of dry asbestos per sack of cement to make it pump and after that "gun cement" contained 4% asbestos mixed in and i've never had a lung or breathing problem.

I've received hundreds of comp claims for asbestos and don't know of one that was associated with a health problem. They were all filed within 3 months of a workers filing for retirement and were sent to see the union lawyer who filed the claims.

I'm sure there are a minority of people that are affected by it just as there are a minority affected by any other element or food that they might consume.

[bubman]

Building is the ugliest peace of RE in Paris a real scourge on an otherwise beautiful urban landscape. It is a sad reminder of the arrogance of unchecked urban developement.

[Publius6961]

A powerful carcinogenic, it is considered responsible for about 4000 deaths a year in France.

This is just as off the wall as the metallic mercury hissy fit of last week: pure B.S.

But then if France wants to go for it, why not?

I visited the observation roof of the tower several times, and I don't really plan to stay awake nights...

[utahguy]

France's tallest building is 'cancer trap'

Correction: France is a 'cancer trap'