The document discusses asbestos, a naturally occurring mineral that was widely used in manufacturing and construction due to its desirable properties but is now known to be dangerous to human health. It provides details on the types of asbestos, how it causes diseases like cancer and asbestosis when fibers are inhaled, and its historic uses before being banned in many places. The European Union has banned all uses and extraction of asbestos due to the health risks from exposure.
2. Asbestos(from Greekἄσβεστος or asbestinon, meaning "unquenchable" or "inextinguishable") is a set of six naturally occurring silicate minerals exploited commercially for their desirable physical properties.[2] They all have in common their asbestiform habit, long, (1:20) thin fibrous crystals. The inhalation of asbestos fibers can cause serious illnesses, including malignant lung cancer, mesothelioma (a formerly rare cancer strongly associated with exposure to amphibole asbestos), and asbestosis (a type of pneumoconiosis). Long exposure to high concentrations of asbestos fibers is more likely to cause health problems, as asbestos exists in the ambient air at low levels, which itself does not cause health problems.The European Union has banned all use of asbestos and extraction, manufacture and processing of asbestos products.
3. Asbestos became increasingly popular among manufacturers and builders in the late 19th century because of its sound absorption, average tensile strength, and its resistance to heat, electrical and chemical damage. When asbestos is used for its resistance to fire or heat, the fibers are often mixed with cement or woven into fabric or mats. Asbestos was used in some products for its heat resistance, and in the past was used on electric oven and hotplate wiring for its electrical insulation at elevated temperature, and in buildings for its flame-retardant and insulating properties, tensile strength, flexibility, and resistance to chemicals.
5. Other asbestos-related diseases Asbestos warts: caused when the sharp fibers lodge in the skin and are overgrown causing benign callus-like growths. Pleural plaques: discrete fibrous or partially calcified thickened area which can be seen on X-rays of individuals exposed to asbestos. Although pleural plaques are themselves asymptomatic, in some patients this develops into pleural thickening. Diffuse pleural thickening: similar to above and can sometimes be associated with asbestosis. Usually no symptoms shown but if exposure is extensive, it can cause lung impairment.
6. Asbestos as a contaminant Asbestos fibers (SEM micrograph) Most respirable asbestos fibers are invisible to the unaided human eye because their size is about 3.0–20.0 µm wide and can be as slim as 0.01 µm. human hair ranges in size from 17 to 181 µm in breadth.[36] Fibers ultimately form because when these minerals originally cooled and crystallized, they formed by the polymeric molecules lining up parallel with each other and forming oriented crystal lattices. These crystals thus have three cleavage planes, just as other minerals and gemstones have. But in their case, there are two cleavage planes that are much weaker than the third direction. When sufficient force is applied, they tend to break along their weakest directions, resulting in a linear fragmentation pattern and hence a fibrous form. This fracture process can keep occurring and one larger asbestos fiber can ultimately become the source of hundreds of much thinner and smaller fibers. As asbestos fibers get smaller and lighter, they more easily become airborne and human respiratory exposures can result. Fibers will eventually settle but may be re-suspended by air currents or other movement. Friability of a product containing asbestos means that it is so soft and weak in structure that it can be broken with simple finger crushing pressure. Friable materials are of the most initial concern because of their ease of damage. The forces or conditions of usage that come into intimate contact with most non-friable materials containing asbestos are substantially higher than finger pressure.
7.
8. Historic usage Asbestos use in human culture dates back at least 4,500 years, when evidence shows that inhabitants of the Lake Juojärvi region in East Finland strengthened earthenware pots and cooking utensils with the asbestos mineral anthophyllite.[12] Asbestos was named by the ancient Greeks. One of the first careful descriptions of the material is attributed to Theophrastus in his text On Stones, around 300 BC, although the naming of minerals was not very consistent at that time (the modern Greek word ἀσβεστος stands for lime, not for the material known as asbestos in English). The term asbestos is traceable to Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder's manuscript Natural History, and his use of the term asbestinon, meaning "unquenchable".[1][2][12] While Pliny is popularly attributed with recognising the detrimental effects of asbestos on slaves,[13] examination of primary sources shows that this is not so.[14]Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Emperor, is said to have had a tablecloth made of asbestos.[15]
9. Wealthy Persians, who bought asbestos imported over the Hindu Kush, amazed guests by cleaning the cloth by simply exposing it to fire. According to Biruni in his book of Gems, any cloths made of asbestos (Persian: آذرشست, āzarshast or Persian: آذرشب, āzarshab) were called (Persian: شستكه) shastakeh.[16] Some of the Persians believed the fiber was fur from an animal (named samandar, Persian: سمندر) that lived in fire and died when exposed to water.[17][18], hence the old mistaken myth that the salamander tolerated fire. While traveling to China, Marco Polo described observing miraculous garments that were cleaned by being placed in fires. These garments were likely made from asbestos[citation needed]. Some archeologists believe that ancients made shrouds of asbestos, wherein they burned the bodies of their kings, in order to preserve only their ashes, and prevent their being mixed with those of wood or other combustible materials commonly used in funeral pyres.[19] Others assert that the ancients used asbestos to make perpetual wicks for sepulchral or other lamps.[17] In more recent centuries, asbestos was indeed used for this purpose. Although asbestos causes skin to itch upon contact, ancient literature indicates that it was prescribed for diseases of the skin, and particularly for the itch. It is possible that they used the term asbestos for soapstone, because the two terms have often been confused throughout history.[19]
10. Health problems Left-sided mesothelioma : CT chest Amosite and crocidolite are the most hazardous of the asbestos minerals because of their long persistence in the lungs of exposed people. Tremolite often contaminates chrysotile asbestos, thus creating an additional hazard. Chrysotile asbestos, like all other forms of asbestos, has produced tumors in animals. Mesotheliomas have been observed in people who were occupationally exposed to chrysotile, family members of the occupationally exposed, and residents who lived close to asbestos factories and mines.[28] The most common diseases associated with chronic exposure to asbestos include: asbestosis and pleural abnormalities (mesothelioma, lung cancer) [29] Asbestos exposure becomes a health concern when high concentrations of asbestos fibers are inhaled over a long time period.[30] People who become ill from inhaling asbestos are often those who are exposed on a day-to-day basis in a job where they worked directly with the material. As a person's exposure to fibers increases, because of being exposed to higher concentrations of fibers and/or by being exposed for a longer time, then that person's risk of disease also increases. Disease is very unlikely to result from a single, high-level exposure, or from a short period of
![Asbestos(from Greekἄσβεστος or asbestinon, meaning "unquenchable" or "inextinguishable") is a set of six naturally occurring silicate minerals exploited commercially for their desirable physical properties.[2] They all have in common their asbestiform habit, long, (1:20) thin fibrous crystals. The inhalation of asbestos fibers can cause serious illnesses, including malignant lung cancer, mesothelioma (a formerly rare cancer strongly associated with exposure to amphibole asbestos), and asbestosis (a type of pneumoconiosis). Long exposure to high concentrations of asbestos fibers is more likely to cause health problems, as asbestos exists in the ambient air at low levels, which itself does not cause health problems.The European Union has banned all use of asbestos and extraction, manufacture and processing of asbestos products.](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)