Asbestos, just the beginning
The term asbestos is referred to a family of 6 minerals, specifically silicates, which have a fibrous metamorphic crystalline structure.
These minerals have long and strong fibres that are flexible enough that can be separated and intertwined. Moreover, the fibres can easily fragment into smaller ones, fibrils, which are minuscule in size, being imperceptible to the human eye.
And this is what makes asbestos to be considered a hazardous substance. The fibrils, when released, proliferate in the air, enter the lungs by inhalation and if they are not expelled naturally, can generate various types of illness and even death. Moreover, fibrils may be ingested or enter the body through erosion of the skin, although this type of asbestos exposure is much less common.
The health effects asbestos has on people who have been exposed to it depend on the type of asbestos, the exposure time, and the number of fibres inhaled. However, in general, it can be said that exposure to asbestos can cause various diseases such as asbestosis, pleural plaques, mesothelioma and lung, laryngeal or ovarian cancer. The onset of these diseases can take between 20 and 50 years.
But asbestos combines excellent physical and chemical properties, which, together with its relatively low price, meant that in the past (before the material’s adverse effects on human health and in the environment were known) it was a widely used material, being present in countless products in various sectors (industrial, construction, etc.), even in general consumer products.
Today more than 3,000 different applications of asbestos are known. It is a material that is present in almost all industries (construction, nautical, automobile, aeronautical, pharmaceutical, textile, etc.), as well as in domestic consumer products. In addition to nature itself, where there are rocks that naturally contain it.
Although the use of asbestos has been prohibited for many years (the exact dates of the prohibitions vary from country to country), it is still present in many places (homes, schools, hospitals, public centres, ships, airplanes, trains, etc.) and products (electrical appliances, thermos, cloths for irons, laboratory gloves, etc.).
In the construction sector, asbestos was widely used and there is where it causes the biggest problems today, being present, for example, in gutters and downspouts for collecting water, false ceilings, cable insulation, vinyl flooring, pipelines, water deposits, external coatings, prefabricated buildings, façade surfaces, plugs, putties, sealants, boilers, metallic structures, fireproof surfaces, building insulation, glue, repair mastic, roads, etc.
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