What is Asbestos?

Answer:
Asbestos is a naturally occuring mineral element

found in the earth's crust, and mined and used for its superior strength and resistance to heat, chemicals, and other forces.

WARNING! NEVER DISTURB KNOWN OR PRESUMED ASBESTOS-CONTAINING MATERIALS, as Asbestos fibers are considered to be highly toxic to health!

Asbestos comes in several varieties, including actinolite, amosite, anthophyllite, chrysotile, crocidolite, and tremolite. Chrysotile, or "white asbestos", is the most commonly found type of asbestos in building materials and other products.

Asbestos has been used in the manufacture of products in just about every industry, since it is a truly wonderful material for such things as brake-shoes, building materials, many industrial products, and more.

Because asbestos is such a good material for certain applications, it is still in limited, though very-controlled use today.

Asbestos use in general has been essentially banned in the United States and many other countries, since it has been found to be responsible for much illness and death, primarily through diseases like Mesothelioma; especially in people with high or long-term exposure to the tiny, indestructible fibers that make asbestos so useful in the first place.

When it was learned that these tiny, indestructible fibers that give asbestos its outstanding properties to resist heat and other destructive forces were finding their way into people's bodies through respiration and other means of absorption, and were not being broken down or passed through the body the way that some other, more "destructible" materials would be, extreme measures were taken to prevent further exposures to asbestos and asbestos-containing materials.

Such measures were not only intended for the people who worked directly with asbestos or asbestos-containing materials (mining, handling, using in product manufacture, building materials, and the like); but also for people who work, live, attend school, (or other) in buildings where asbestos products and materials were used in construction when they were built.

Many millions of dollars continue to be paid (through lawsuits and other settlement procedures) to workers and others who contracted Mesothelioma (and other asbestos-related conditions) from being exposed to asbestos at some time.

Generally speaking, any manufactured building products (insulation, concrete, plaster, wallboard, floor and ceiling tile and some of their adhesives, and many others) made before the 1970's might be suspect as containing asbestos fibers. Likewise, numerous other products might contain asbestos. For a comprehensive listing, visit the Mesothelioma Center website.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and other Federal and State agencies have very strict rules, regulations and laws governing asbestos control.

These typically cover the use, handling, exposure-control, removal and disposal of asbestos; and are designed to prevent undue asbestos exposures in every possible exposure scenario.

Note: Because the dangerous, tiny, indestructible fibers that asbestos consists of are too small to be seen without a microscope, it is difficult to know where and when asbestos exposures can occur. You should contact qualified asbestos-handling experts if you wish to ascertain the existence of "Potential (or Presumed) Asbestos-Containing Materials" (PACM) in your home or other location.