What is Asbestos?

Asbestos is the name for a group of naturally occurring silicate minerals that can be separated into fibers. The fibers are strong, durable, and resistant to heat and fire. They are also long, thin and flexible, so that they can even be woven into cloth. Because of these qualities, asbestos has been used in thousands of consumer, industrial, maritime, automotive, scientific and building products. During the twentieth century, some 30 million tons of asbestos were used in industrial sites, homes, schools, shipyards and commercial buildings in the United States.

In the United States, asbestos became popular in the early 1900s and its use peaked during WWII into the 1970s. While use of asbestos is not banned by legislation, it is not commonly used by American manufacturers anymore due to health concerns and liability issues. However, there is a strong international market, so imported materials may contain asbestos. During the late 1960s, evidence emerged indicating that asbestos fibers were a dangerous health risk and by the 1970s, the federal government began to take action. During the 1980s, the concern regarding asbestos resulted in the new industry of asbestos abatement.

Types of Asbestos Fibers

There are several types of asbestos fibers, of which three have been used for commercial applications:

Chrysotile (white asbestos) - Comes mainly from Canada, and has been very widely used in the US. It is white-gray in color and found in serpentine rock.
Amosite (Brown Asbestos) - Comes from southern Africa.
Crocidolite (Blue asbestos) - Comes from southern Africa and Australia.

Other asbestos fibers that have not been used commercially are:

Tremolite
Actinolite
Anthophyllite

Although they are sometimes contaminants in asbestos-containing products. It should be noted that there are non-fibrous, or non-asbestiform, variants of Tremolite, Anthophylite and Actinolite, which do not have the adverse health consequences that result from exposure to commercial forms of asbestos.

Why is asbestos still a problem?

Asbestos is still a problem because a great deal of it has been used in the United States and elsewhere, because many asbestos-containing products remain in buildings, ships, industrial facilities and other environments where the fibers can become airborne, and because of the serious human health hazards of inhaling asbestos fibers.

Asbestos exposure can cause mesothelioma, which is a cancer of the mesothelium, a protective lining that covers most of the body's internal organs including the lungs, chest, abdomen and heart. Many industrial workers across that nation have worked at factories or plants or mining operations where they were exposed to Asbestos. Mesothelioma from Asbestos can take decades to develop in a person's body.

What does asbestos have to do with mesothelioma?

The only known cause of mesothelioma in the United States is previous exposure to asbestos fibers. Asbestos manufacturers knew about the hazards of asbestos seventy years ago - but they kept this knowledge to themselves. The first warnings given to workers exposed to asbestos were in the mid-1960s, and they were terribly inadequate. Even today, workers are not always told they are working around asbestos and are at risk for asbestos disease.

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