Well considering that asbestos was banned in 1978 and my house was built in 2003, I seriously doubt mine contains it. The main reason for the dust, was the sanding of the new spackle and such that was used to cover up the nail heads and smooth over the previous mud and tape strips before they repainted the ceilings. They used large tarps and large scrapers and kept everything wet when they scraped and there wasnt much dust, if any, with that part at all.

So you can all relax now...

It may have been banned in 78 but was used up to the middle 80s.

EHS Laboratories, LLC

This is the lab I used. I took the samples and mailed them in, a few weeks later they sent me the results.

I think they charged $10 per sample.

who the H put in a popcorn ceiling in 2003???

find the builder and kill them

Ha! i agree!, but believe it or not, most new homes today are still getting them installed as it much cheaper for the builders to use popcorn than it is to pay for the time to tape and mud the ceiling correctly.
Just read a report on that in USA Today..

My house was built in 1993 and has popcorn ceilings. It seems more popular in the south.

Another supposed benefit is that it helps with noise reduction. Something about absorbing sound waves in the room...

I'm in the process of removing it one room at a time. The kitchen had a leak from an upstairs bathroom, which then caused the popcorn to fall off the ceiling. I did that one last year.

Upstairs, the roof had a leak which caused the popcorn to fall off in spots.

Removing it is not overly difficult, but it makes a big mess. The benefit is the cleaner look and the ability to repaint the ceiling if needed.