When I was a Boiler Tech. in the Navy we used asbestos as insulation & also had asbestos gloves we used to pull burners out of the boiler. After we went in the yards & they removed all the asbestos & replaced all our asbestos gloves with some "OTHER" kind they didn't work for crap. People were getting burns with these new gloves & also dropping the burners because of the heat.
My job while we were in the yards was to get things we needed with coffee as a trade item. you would be surprised what 5 Lbs of coffee can get you in the yards! Anyway I told a friend in the yards I sure would like to get a couple of pair of asbestos gloves. Five pounds of coffee & I found two pair of asbestos gloves in a drawer of my work bench. We used masks from then on when we were using the gloves so the chance of getting it in our lungs was very small.
Most of the people having problems were car mechanics that did brake work. There are many different types of asbestos & I have read that the asbestos in brake shoes & pads were the worst kind being very sharp fibers.
Don't get me wrong, it is very dangerous stuff but used safely it is still one of the best tools for the job at hand.

Slawman