I think you’ll be surprised at how much asbestos is still used worldwide, including in the US. We’re not using it as wall and ceiling insulation anymore, but it’s still used for things like pipes and vinyl floor tiles.

The guards that patrol the ice wall.

Entirety of NASA. Entirety of NOAA. Meteorologists. Cartographers. Everyone who works on Google Earth. Every engineer who works on satellites, rockets, and planes. Physicists.

However, I do think 10% is probably too high an estimate. While these are a lot of people in a lot of areas, they represent pretty small demographics each.

For a while there was a persistent myth that black people had an extra muscle in their leg that allowed them to perform better at sports.

It’s kind of similar to phrenology in trying to justify racism.

I would argue that this is worldnews in that (if I understand it correctly) this impacts foreign travelers too, even those simply making connecting flights.

While I think this is a perfectly valid follow-up question, even if the “solution” is to bury it (with safeguards such as not able to get into groundwater), that’s better than it being in the drinking water. Short term at least.

Considering how early this research is, it’s also possible they wanted to know their filter works before solving disposal. And, while not explicit, it sounds like this is meant to replace existing filters that themselves use plastic, so this could be a net gain even if disposed in the exact same manner as the original filters however that may be.