What is Asbestos?

Asbestos is a mineral that was crushed and milled into a fine particulate, and then shipped to corporations for use in building and insulation materials. Asbestos mines around the world, many in Canada, produced over 250 million tons of asbestos for use in the United States between 1890 and 1970. Of the six types of asbestos, three have been used commercially: white (chrysotile), blue (crocidolite) and brown (amosite) asbestos. Over 90% of all asbestos ever used was the white asbestos. Asbestos was added to a variety of products including insulation, automotive brakes, fireproofing, pipe covering, cements, refractory materials, gaskets, floor tiles and joint compounds.

“A common form of magnesium silicate which was used in various construction products... Asbestos exposure (caused by inhaling loose asbestos fibers) is associated with various forms of lung disease [including mesothelioma]... its extremely fine fibers are easily inhaled, and exposure to them over a period of years has been linked to cancers of the lung or lung-cavity lining and to asbestosis, a severe lung impairment.”

—National Association of Certified Home Inspectors

During the installation, repair, maintenance, renovation or removal of asbestos materials, these products were cut, scraped, sanded and otherwise altered, creating dust which was then breathed in by the laborers working with and around these materials. Some materials, such as cements, were mixed at job sites using raw asbestos fibers so the respirated fibers were in a pure form. Dust from these products also traveled throughout the buildings, factories and ships where they were being used, so asbestos fibers remained airborne for weeks. Even after the fibers settled, the clean-up process on the sites, where refuse and other matter was swept up, would re-suspend the dust and fibers in the air—where they were again breathed-in by workers in the area.

Exposure to asbestos is the direct cause of multiple diseases — with mesothelioma perhaps the most tragic. Tens of thousands of individuals, especially working men and woman, have died from Mesothelioma in just the last couple of decades and there are 2000 – 3000 new diagnoses every year.

The dangers of asbestos were known to many of the companies that made these products as early as the 1920s. However, asbestos was sold and used without warnings up until the 1980s — when most asbestos products were banned in the United States and other countries. Alternative materials were available during the entire period of awareness that could have been used in place of asbestos.

A wide array of workers were exposed to asbestos including shipyard workers, factory workers, pipefitters, sheet metal workers, plumbers, laborers, machinists, mechanics, powerhouse workers, and electricians. One cloud of dust from asbestos products can contain millions or billions of fibers, and even a small amount of asbestos can cause lung damage.

Often, individuals won’t recall how they were exposed to asbestos, and many mistakenly believe that they were not exposed to asbestos at all. A careful examination and review of a person’s work and life history often reveals exposures to asbestos products that may not be readily apparent.

Asbestos is so toxic that mesothelioma has been diagnosed in family members whose only exposure came from contact with the fibers that adhered to the clothes of the worker/tradesperson who actually worked with asbestos products.