Little Known Asbestos Facts

Asbestos has been used for centuries. It was known for fire resistant properties even back in Greek and Roman times, it just wasn't called asbestos back then. Marco polo in fact wrote about a magic rug that was cleaned by throwing it in the fire, it is now thought this was a woven asbestos fibre mat. Slaves in roman times used to wear a shirt that was also cleaned by throwing the shirt in a fire, however the Romans also noticed that the slaves that were wearing the magic garment were dying of a horrible lung disease. For the Romans to call it a horrible death you just know it has to be a bad way to go.

Fast forward to the 1900's and asbestos was being used in everything from chimneys to brakes and everything in between. Asbestos can be found in walls, roofs, cladding, chimneys, toasters, hair dryers, brake pads, tiles, carpet underlay, insulation, garages, meter boxes just to name a few.

There are three types of asbestos white, brown and blue. White is the most common and is still legal to use in some countries (not Australia). Due to refining impurities a material that is made from white asbestos will still contain blue and brown asbestos, just not as much.

Blue and brown asbestos are deadly. Blue and brown asbestos was banned in Australia in 1983 and it is illegal to use in most countries today. Blue asbestos is the most deadly and is though to be responsible for most of the deaths caused by asbestos. Once an asbestos fibre is lodged in your lung it can stay there for life. When viewed from a microscope the fibre will appear as a pin. When cells try to encapsulate the asbestos fibre they are popped by the pin shaped asbestos fibre. This is why the asbestos fibre is deadly.

Asbestos is fire resistant, strong, light, cheap and resistant to mould and fungus. It was thought as the perfect building material, but it kills, sometimes it can take over thirty years for symptoms to appear and one they do most people are given six months to live. A friend of mine who is a nurse said she thought that asbestos disease was the worst way to go and that she had never seen anyone so much pain.

The asbestos that you can see floating around in the air will not kill you, it is not small enough to penetrate deep into your lung. It is the asbestos fibres you can't see that will harm you the most.

If performing asbestos work yourself read up on safety procedures and then follow them. People have died from an asbestos related disease from one time exposure to asbestos.

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