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Asbestos – A Ticking Time-Bomb
Still Legally in Use in Some
Products
Geoff Morris
Have you ever seen the
effects of asbestosis,
mesothelioma, or any of the
various asbestos-related
cancers that have killed or
destroyed the livelihood of a
close fried or relative?
Believe me, some very powerful
and influential figures have
succumbed to these illnesses,
so it is not just confined to
manual workers working in
factories or building sites
where asbestos was
involved.
As early as 1898 the then
Chief inspector of Factories in
The United Kingdom in his
report to Parliament submitted
in his report regarding the
‘evil effects of asbestos
dust.’ He described it even all
those years ago as having a
sharp, glass like nature, very
susceptible to disintegrating
into minute particles, which
then very easily permeated
every nook and cranny in a
building, or even a district
where such a product was in
use.
Litigation due to industrial
exposure to asbestos remains
the longest, most expensive
joint claim in the world, with
over 6,000 defendants, and at
the latest count well over
600,000 claimants. With the
current rate of detection of
asbestos related diseases set
to rise over the next decade,
estimates of the litigation
costs on the US alone is
expected to rise to well over
$250 BILLION. You would have
thought that with such amounts
at stake, anybody still
manufacturing products based on
asbestos or any
asbestos-related products would
be taking an enormous financial
risk.
In early times items made of
asbestos were held in great
esteem, especially by Kings and
Emperors, and of equal value to
gold. Many in fact were
cremated in an asbestos shroud,
to keep their ashes separate
from any other combustible
materials. How rash was that!
In fact, talking of rashes,
although asbestos fibres when
coming into contact with the
skin causes rashes, there are
stories from ancient times that
asbestos was actually
prescribed for ailments of the
skin – especially the itch.
Although there are many
forms of asbestos, they all
have the same characteristic to
a greater or lesser degree,
that eventually however they
may be packaged up within
another material, they will all
form asbestos dust particles at
some point in their life.
Due to asbestos’s
fire-retarding properties,
until the late 1980’s there
were many applications within
public and private buildings
where asbestos in one form or
another was used. Acoustic
ceilings, putty, vinyl floor
coverings, fire-retardant
fillings, adhesives and ceiling
tiles, acoustic curtains in
theatres, and in brake disk
pads in cars, busses and
trains, clutch plates, gaskets,
fire blankets – the list is
endless, as is the lurking
danger.
In fact, many a worker in
the American shipyards during
the Second Word War were
heavily exposed to this
asbestos danger, and even some
top people were affected and
struck down with asbestosis,
mesothelioma, or
asbestos-induced cancers of
some sort.
Now, with many asbestos
based products no longer
allowed in new construction,
there must be thousands upon
thousands of sites where
asbestos is still lurking, and
even demolition and or removal
creates its own hazard
conditions.
Interestingly, in the
interest of ‘profit’ there are
still a number of applications
where asbestos is still in use,
and can even be found in some
consumer products, such as
talcum powder.
In all, the list of asbestos
based products is still scarily
quite long.
Asbestos-cement corrugated
and flat sheets; asbestos
clothing for heat resistant
applications, pipe line wraps,
roofing felt, and many
applications in the auto
industry, including automatic
transmission system components,
clutch plates, friction pads
such as disk brake pads and so
forth are still being
manufactured.
How many of us have smelt
the acrid fumes when a train
applies it’s brakes in your
local station?
Because of all this
historical use of asbestos, we
are all constantly exposed to
certain levels of asbestos
dust. These are usually quite
low levels (between 0.00001 to
0.0001 fibres per millilitre of
air we breathe) with the higher
levels predominately in towns
and cities. Some drinking water
can also contain asbestos
fibres from natural sources,
but this is usually very
closely monitored.
Where asbestos removal takes
place, whole buildings have to
be hermetically sealed to try
and trap the bulk of the
dust.
If you have been unfortunate
enough to breathe large
quantities of asbestos dust,
either in a short burst, or
over a period of years the
effects are usually very much
the same.
1. This dust, on the lungs
and the membranes inside us,
will eventually cause scar like
tissues in the lungs, and in
the pleural membrane (lining)
surrounding the lungs. This
‘asbestosis’ as it is known
will usually cause coughing,
difficulty in breathing, and
sometimes, enlargement of the
heart. Asbestosis is very
serious, and often results in
death. However, it is usually
confined to those who worked in
the asbestos industry.
2. Lower levels of intake of
this deadly dust may cause
changes called plaques in the
pleural membranes. Effects here
are not as serious as with
asbestosis, but restricted
breathing may still take
place.
3. Any irritation of the
lungs, or any other membrane in
the body will have a marked
increase in the formation of
cancers, and lung cancer and
mesothelioma, which is a cancer
of the thin lining (pleural
membrane) surrounding the lungs
is a well-know side effect of
breathing asbestos dust.
4. Children are particularly
at risk, as how many of them
may play around old buildings,
and take great pleasure in
smashing up old sheets of
asbestos, not realising that
they are really playing with
something more deadly than an
unexploded time-bomb.
As a successful property
renovator, and provider of
buildings for my property club
members, asbestos is of a very
serious concern to me.
In all, asbestos, although
having served mankind
“Faithfully?’ down throughout
the ages, has now been
identified as the spectre of
danger that it presents, but
unfortunately we have been
mining the stuff for centuries,
so it will not go away quietly,
and without a fight.
Hence the massive levels of
lawsuits piling up surrounding
all forms of asbestos.
Copyright 2006 Geoff
Morris
Geoff Morris is a Property
Entrepreneur who has been
studying the dangers of
renovating old buildings for
his club members (http://www.propertyprofits4u.com).
Such an International scare
really needs more
investigating, and you can
identify far more
information by visiting
http://www.mesotheliomatime.info
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