So does fiberglass. I would dislike working with the aforementioned basalt fiber, I suspect it's like fiberglass or carbon fibers in that you'll end up itchy later, unless you do a really good job with your PPE e.g. taping gloves to your sleeves.
This is the exact way of behaving that facilitate conspiratorial thinking. You could have looked into it. Found sources that covers harmful effects of stone wool. Instead this 'just pointing out' that it might be problematic is lazy, dumb, and potentially destructive.
You want people to be curious and investigate? Then don't snap at them when they ask a question or express confusion. Respond and show your work and they'll learn by example. Snap at them and you'll raise the temperature of the discussion and make it more polarized and reflexive, exactly the opposite of your stated preference.
And they aren't wrong, inhaling basalt fibers is dangerous and long term exposure could injure or kill you. It's just a different mechanism than asbestos. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicosis
> (NB: I do not know if or claim that basalt fibers are more dangerous than alternatives.)
For what it's worth, the ex-composite-shop guys I used to work with said that basically everything you can make a composite out of is horribly nasty: carbon fiber, fiberglass, basalt fiber, probably anything period. After repeated exposure you develop contact dermatitis to that type of fiber and the shop moves you on to working with something else, until it happens again. Contact dermatitis is just the first visible sign, it gets worse from there. Eventually you're probably going to want to get out of the shop entirely.
