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. The popularity of asbestos took a sudden dive when laws were passed in the 1970's in the USA that stopped the use of asbestos in certain consumer products.

The EPA issued additional laws governing the ways in which asbestos could be used during the 1980's. Many people remain ignorant today on how dangerous asbestos is to people and the environment.

Asbestos bundles that occur naturally can be split into individual asbestos fibres. Asbestos has some remarkable properties; it is fire and chemical resistant as well as not conducting electricity. Adoption of the use of asbestos was wide spread in many industries eager make use of it's special properties.

The applications that asbestos found its way into is long and varied. The construction industry found many uses for asbestos, as tiles, in paints and adhesive. Industry can still use asbestos but only if it can be proven that it is not possible for the asbestos to come into contact with people or the environment.

Unfortunately, asbestos exposure can carry significant health risks, some of which are untreatable and incurable at the present time. Lung damage caused by breathing in asbestos fibres is called asbestosis; it causes permanent lung damage resulting in a shortness of breath.

Mesothelioma is a form of cancer that is almost always caused by previous exposure to asbestos. Mesothelioma usually affects the lungs or the heart of the victim.

It is estimated that approximately 100,000 people in the United States have died, or will die, from asbestos exposure related to ship building, such is the hazards of the material. Asbestos exposure symptoms may take up to 50 years to show, it is for this reason that the medical profession took so long to links asbestos to the diseases that it causes.

The use of asbestos has declined due to the level of litigation that has taken place by its victims once the link between asbestos and the diseases it caused had been established. The legal case between Corrosion Proof Fittings v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency leaves many consumer products that can still legally contain trace amounts of asbestos.

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.