Asbestos-Truth

Industry's adoption of asbestos began during the 19th century and slowly increased until the second world was when it's use rose dramatically. Its popularity came to an abrupt halt in the 1970s however, when the United States Consumer Product and Safety Commission passed the first laws banning its use in certain products, because the asbestos fibers were being released into the environment.

The EPA felt that more control was required over the use of asbestos in the 1980's as it issued it's own laws controlling how and where asbestos was used by industry. The danger's that asbestos exposure can have on humans is known by almost all of the population after extensive education campaigns on the back of the laws passed in the 70's and 80's.

Asbestos fibre occurs naturally as fibre bundles and it was these that were mined to create asbestos used in industry. Asbestos has amazing fire and chemical resistance, coupled with the fact that it is not a conductor of electricity. Adoption of the use of asbestos was wide spread in many industries eager make use of it's special properties.

Asbestos was used to make joint compound, gaskets and various fire proofing aids. The construction industry found many uses for asbestos, as tiles, in paints and adhesive. Asbestos is legal if it can be proven that its use will not harm humans or the environment.

The medical profession takes asbestos exposure very seriously because there are a number of possible health risks, which are untreatable with current medical technology. One of the most common diseases resulting from exposure to it is asbestosis, sometimes called asbestos lung, which is a chronic inflammation of the lungs that leads to shortness of breath, coughing, and even permanent lung damage.

A second common ailment of asbestosis is mesothelioma, which is a form of cancer affecting the major organs of the body. Pleural mesothelioma is a cancer that affects the lining of the lungs, pericardial mesothelioma affects the heart.

It is only in the last 3 decades that it has become apparent the effects on peoples health that asbestos causes. The first diagnosis of asbestosis was made in England in 1924, by the 1930s, England regulated ventilation and made asbestosis a work related disease.

Production of asbestos in Japan peaked in 1974 and went through ups and downs until about 1990, when production began to drop severely after is was proven that asbestos was dangerous to human health. The British Government's Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has promoted rigorous controls on asbestos handling, because of many reports linking exposure to asbestos dust or fibres with thousands of annual deaths.

The author of this web articles has written many other articles about asbestos. If you are interested you can find links to some of their other work below.