The Rise of Asbestos Related Diseases

The Rise of Asbestos Related Diseases
By Rick Jackson

Asbestos has been dubbed as a miracle mineral when people discovered its property to withstand heat. The use of asbestos became more widespread 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 had 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 manifested when about 100,000 people in the United States fell sick and died due to asbestos related disease. Many of these victims were exposed to asbestos in their jobs like in ship building for example. During the World War II, 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.