The Advent of Asbestos Related Diseases
October 17th, 2008 | by Clare |
Asbestos has been seen as a miracle mineral when people realised its ability to withstand heat. The use of asbestos became more common during the industrial revolution when countries started to aim for growth through infrastructures.
Unfortunately, although asbestos has been found to be useful in construction and even in clothing, it has been discovered to be hazardous to health - even the early Greeks recognized asbestos related diseases in the slaves who handled the minerals during that time.
The United States and Canada started to use asbestos for insulation in the 1860s. The very first commercial asbestos mine was built in 1879 at Quebec. Soon, asbestos have been used in so many other household construction applications like:
-Fire retardant coatings
-Concrete
-Bricks
-Pipes
-Fireplace cement
-Heat-, fire-, and acid-resistant gaskets
-Pipe insulations
-Ceiling insulations
-Fireproof drywall, flooring
-Roofing
-Lawn furniture
Asbestos has become a very valuable commodity in a wide range of applications where infrastructure construction is concerned but there are other applications where asbestos is used: brake pads and shoes, clutch plates, stage curtains, fire blankets, interior fire doors, etc.
The hazards of continuous usage of the asbestos has eventually surfaced when about 100,000 people in the United States fell sick and died due to asbestos related disease. Many people who were working in jobs like in ship building were exposed unfortunately to asbestos constantly. During the World War II, as tons and tons of asbestos were used in the ships and soon after, thousands of workers started to die of mesothelioma and asbestosis due to their prolonged exposure to the minerals.
Today, many people continue to suffer from a continued over exposure to asbestos.
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