Asbestos is the collective term used to describe a family of
several types of mineral fibrous rocks. There are currently six different regulated
types of asbestos, with the three main types being Crocidolite, Amosite and
Chrysolite.
Crocidolite which is usually blue can be found a lot in
southern Africa, Australia
and in Russia.
The Amosite which is usually brown is most commonly found in Africa.
The Chrysolite is of a white colour and can be found in different places all
around the world. All those three types were actually imported a lot in the United Kingdom
before being banned from use in the eighties for some and at the end of the
nineties for others.
Asbestos fibres have been incorporated into many different materials
and especially building materials since the end of the nineteenth century
because of their useful properties. It was used as an acoustic insulator, a
thermal insulator but also as fire proofing. The mineral fibre was actually
known by the ancient Greek who recognized certain hazards of it. But its
disadvantage is that it is a highly toxic material and can cause serious
illnesses such as mesothelioma and asbestosis.
Asbestos fibres can be easily inhaled and can become lodged
in the tissue of your chest and as a result, your body's natural defenses may
not be able to break them down. This can then lead to lung diseases and cancer especially
if you are exposed to the fibres repeatedly over a certain number of years.
Even though the white asbestos, also called chrysolite, is
still used a lot in the United
States and known as less dangerous as the
other types of asbestos, it can still cause cancer in humans but with some
uncertainty as to the scale of the risk involved there.
The first death recorded as related to asbestos occurred in
1906 and at the same period, scientists started to notice a large number of
deaths and lung diseases in asbestos mining towns.
The British Lung Foundation carried out a survey recently
that revealed that most tradespeople were actually unaware of the health risks
posed by asbestos, and that they did not think about asking if there was any
asbestos on the site they were working on.
Today, the best way to find out if there is asbestos in a
building is to ask a company to carry out asbestos surveys. More and more
companies have actually specialized in asbestos surveys as well as asbestos
risk assessment and legionella risk assessment. |
