Asbestos-Truth

Industry first began to use asbestos during the 19th century and its use rose substantially during the period of the Second World Looking back it was the 70's when the first laws controlling the use of asbestos began to reduce its use by industry.

The 1980's saw the Environmental Protection Agency take asbestos to task and issued laws stating that asbestos could only be used in uses, which it could be proven that asbestos had been used prior to the laws being passed. Mounting environmental pressure forced people to become better educated about the effects and harm that asbestos poses.

Asbestos is a mineral that occurs naturally in nature in fibre bundles. Resistance to chemical attack and heat made asbestos irresistible to industry. Asbestos with it's wonder characteristics caused it's use in many manufacturing and industrial uses.

Industry thought up many uses for asbestos, including roofing tars, felts, siding, and shingles as well as mud and texture coats. It would be well to assume that any building built before the 1990's have been constructed with asbestos or materials containing asbestos. As long as the fibers are encased and contained, with little chance of exposure under normal conditions, all of these uses are legal.

Humans can die from a number of incurable and untreatable ailments associated with coming into contact with asbestos. Inhaling asbestos fibres commonly results in asbestosis, an inflammation of the lungs caused by the asbestos fibres aggravating the lining of the lungs.

A second common ailment of asbestosis is mesothelioma, which is a form of cancer affecting the major organs of the body. Pericardial mesothelioma is a cancer that affects the heart; pleural mesothelioma affects the lining of the lung.

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. The first diagnosis of asbestosis was made in England in 1924, by the 1930s, England regulated ventilation and made asbestosis a work related disease.

Asbestos has been in a marked decline as soon as victims of asbestos exposure began to take legal action for compensation. If legal safety standards are followed then, even though the dangers of asbestos are known it is still legal for industry to use it.

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.