Behind The Scenes Secrets: The Wizard Of Oz

Asbestos Snow

In the Wizard of Oz, there is the famous scene when Dorothy falls asleep in the “Poppy Field”. In thescenefake “snow” is used. The snow was made of 100% industrial-grade chrysotile asbestos. Apparently, it was already well known that asbestos had many health hazards yet they used it anyway. The discovery of how harmful asbestos was made in the very early 1900s and the Wizard of Oz was shot in 1939. There is no definitive evidence that any of the actors suffered harm directly linked to the harmful substance being used on set,howeverthere were multiple other injuries on set. Yikes!