What is asbestos?

Question

How was it used and how do you spot it?

Answer 1

Asbestos is a naturally occuring mineral silicate. It is found in 80% of the Earths Crust.

There is 2 major families of regulated asbestos fibers. The most regulated is crysotile and amosite. Others include Tremolite (used in cement pipes) actinolite and crocidolite. The last 3 are rare.

Amosite was heavily mined in Africa and gained the nickname African Death. But Crysotile is also dangerous (contrary to one of the posts I read above) and it can cause asbestos related disease. Chrysotile is the most used in the USA, Many old mines still exist in california and many are now dumps for the hazards asbestos waste.

Both have bans on their usage. in 1973 The US government Baned asbestos use in drywall mud/joint compound and in pipe insulation. in 1978 it was banned in acoustic ceilings. Many more materials that were once manufactured with asbestos have also been banned and are regulated. These materials include Floor tile, ceiling tiles, decortive exterior coatings, air duct insulation, blow-in attic insulation, heat shield, drywall, roof felt, and about a 1,000 other materials.

Asbestos can cause various diseases including mesotheliomia, lung cancer, plural plaques, bone caner, emphazema, and more.

As besto sis still used in limited application / materials. Most Break pads and clutches still includes a percentage of asbestos. Also it is still used in laboratory filters, electrical generators, roof mastic, and other non-friable (materials that dont release fibers easily).

Asbestos is also used in the O rings on the boster rockets of the US space shuttle. Some idiot had the bright idea to use something different than asbestos one time on the O rings. That was when the shuttle blew up on take off when the O ring failed.

Almost All people have breathed some asbestos in their lifetime. If you sit at a bus stop or stop and go traffic you have breathed asbestos. But like cigerattes it is dose related. therefore the more ingested the greater the risk for disease.

Answer 2

Asbestos is insulation put in walls, ceilings etc. It's very safe if it's in good condition. But if it's broken, banged or drilled very small fibers will come out and if inhaled it will kill you 10 to 20 years later. Or 30 to 40 years later. It's very dangerous stuff but very safe if left alone. Asbestos was removed out of everything and stopped being put into things in the later 80s or early 90s. But loads of buildings, houses and cars etc still contain asbestos. There is 3 types or asbestos. Blue, grey and white. The most deadly one is blue asbestos. If you think you have asbestos then call the asbestos removal team so they can come and investigate. When going in the loft or any loft always have a mask on because that is where it mostly is these days. + asbestos is hard to identify. I know how to identify it by sound. Also if you do break a wall and you see feathery bits, that is asbestos.

Answer 3

Asbestos is a mineral, a natural material which occurs as a rock. It's a great insulator for heat and electricity. Has a characteristic flaky white appearance and can be made into a paper or cloth-like substance. In buildings it often was used to insulate pipes and electrical wires. Don't go poking around looking for it, as it's generally harmless unless disturbed. Its the dust that kills you when you inhale it. Leave it alone, or paint it with a latex paint to seal it. To remove it, special permits and certifications are needed. Not a homeowner job.

Answer 4

Telstra should have been replacing the pits over a long period of time BEFORE they started to break down a become a health risk. Now they're caught out having allowed them to get to such a state. They'll have to follow the guidelines of safe asbestos removal.

Answer 5

It is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral popular in manufacturing and industry due to its strength, chemical and thermal stability. It is usually hard to detect, but any lose fibers can correspond to lung diseases.

Usually, you can trace back to the builder and see if it was used.

Answer 6

A fibre used mainly for fire retardent uses but is now banned becuase th fibre is cancer causing. the world trade centre was full of it, that is one of the reason why the the government decided to bring down the towers, becuase it would have been an insurance and public nightmare, now any one that dies from cancer as a result from the tower collapse just suffers and dies, no compensation nothing.

Answer 7

This link has a lot of info on it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asbestos

Answer 8

Asbestos (a misapplication of Latin: asbestos "quicklime" from Greek ἄσβεστος: a, "not" and sbestos, "extinguishable") describes any of a group of minerals that can be fibrous, many of which are metamorphic and are hydrous magnesium silicates. These minerals, together with their occurrences, uses, and associated hazards, have been discussed in detail by Guthrie and Mossman (1993).

The name is derived for its historical use in lamp wicks; the resistance of asbestos to fire has long been exploited for a variety of purposes. Asbestos was used in fabrics such as Egyptian burial cloths and Charlemagne's tablecloth (which according to legend, he threw in a fire to clean). Asbestos occurs naturally in many forms (see below); it is mined from metamorphic rocks.

When asbestos is used for its resistance to fire or heat, the fibers are often mixed with cement or woven into fabric or mats. Asbestos is used in brake shoes and gaskets for its heat resistance, and in the past was used on electric oven and hotplate wiring for its electrical insulation at elevated temperature, and in buildings for its flame-retardant and insulating properties, tensile strength, flexibility, and resistance to chemicals. The inhalation of amphibole asbestos fibers, however, can cause a number of serious illnesses, including cancer. Many uses of asbestos are banned in multiple countries.
"White" asbestos
Chrysotile, CAS No. 12001-29-5, is obtained from serpentine rocks. Chrysotile is now the only asbestos mineral used industrially in the United States and Europe. It is safer and more flexible than amphibole types of asbestos; it can be spun and woven into fabric. There is no scientific evidence showing that chrysotile is harmful. In fact, a recent study[1] shows that chrysotile does not persist in the lungs after inhalation; it is quickly eliminated by the body. Prolonged exposure to very high concentrations of chrysotile fibers is required for a clinical manifestation of pulmonary damage to appear. While some chrysotile ore deposits do contain harmful amphibole asbestos, the Calidria deposit in Central California is free of amphibole asbestos[2]. Chrysotile species may be represented by one of the following formula: Mg3Si2H4O9 or as Mg3(Si2O5)(OH)4.
"Brown" asbestos
Amosite, CAS No. 12172-73-5, is a trade name for the amphiboles belonging to the Cummingtonite - Grunerite solid solution series, commonly from Africa, named as an acronym from Asbestos Mines of South Africa. One formula given for Amosite is Fe7Si8O22(OH)2. This type of asbestos is very hazardous.
"Blue" asbestos
Riebeckite, CAS No. 12001-28-4, also known under the variety name of Crocidolite, is an amphibole from Africa and Australia. It is the fibrous form of the amphibole riebeckite. Blue asbestos is commonly thought of as the most dangerous type of asbestos (see above and below). One formula given for Crocidolite is Na2Fe2+3Fe3+2Si8O22(OH)2. This type of asbestos is very hazardous.
Notes: chrysotile commonly occurs as soft friable fibers. Asbestiform amphibole may also occur as soft friable fibers but some varieties such as amosite are commonly straighter. All forms of asbestos are fibrillar in that they are composed of fibers with widths less than 1 micrometer that occur in bundles and have very long lengths. Asbestos with particularly fine fibers is also referred to as "amianthus". Amphiboles such as tremolite have a sheetlike crystalline structure. Serpentine (chrysotile) has a stringlike crystalline structure.(Inorganic Chemistry, E. de Barry Barnett and C. L. Wilson).

Other asbestos
Other regulated asbestos minerals, such as tremolite asbestos, CAS No. 77536-68-6, Ca2Mg5Si8O22(OH)2; actinolite asbestos (or smaragdite), CAS No. 77536-66-4, Ca2(Mg, Fe)5Si8O22(OH)2; and anthophyllite asbestos, CAS No. 77536-67-5, (Mg, Fe)7Si8O22(OH)2; are less commonly used industrially but can still be found in a variety of construction materials and insulation materials and have been reported in the past to occur in a few consumer products. Other natural and not currently regulated asbestos minerals, such as richterite, Na(CaNa)(Mg,Fe++)5[Si8O22](OH)2, and winchite, [ ](CaNa)Mg4(Al,Fe3+)Si8O22(OH)2, may be found as a contaminate in products such as the vermiculite containing Zonolite insulation manufactured by W.R. Grace and Company. These forms of asbestos are no less harmful than tremolite, amosite, or crocidolite.
In 1989 the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) passed the Asbestos Ban and Phase Out Rule which was subsequently overturned in the case of Corrosion Proof Fittings v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1991. This ruling leaves many consumer products that can still legally contain trace amounts of asbestos. For a clarification of products which legally contain asbestos visit the EPA's clarification statement.[3]


[edit] Uses

[edit] Historic usage
Items made of asbestos were held in so great an esteem as to be of equal value with gold; none but emperors and kings had napkins made of it. Supposedly, Charlemagne had a tablecloth made of asbestos. Cleaning an asbestos cloth was simple- it was simply thrown into a fire. Some antiquaries have believed that ancients made shrouds of asbestos, wherein they burnt the bodies of their kings, in order to preserve only their ashes, and prevent their being mixed with those of wood, or other combustible materials commonly used in building funeral pyres.[4]

Others assert that the ancients used asbestos to make perpetual wicks for sepulchral lamps. In more recent centuries, asbestos was indeed used for this purpose. Although asbestos causes skin to itch upon contact, ancient literature indicates that it was prescribed for diseases of the skin, and particularly for the itch. It is possible that they used the term asbestos for alumen plumosum, because the two terms have often been confused throughout history.[4]

Asbestos fibers were once used in automobile brake pads and shoes. Since the mid-1990s, a majority of brake pads, new or replacement, have been manufactured with Aramid fiber (Twaron or Kevlar) linings (same material used in bulletproof vests).

Kent, the first filtered cigarette on the market, used crocidolite asbestos in its "Micronite" filter from 1952 to 1956.[5]


[edit] Modern usage

[edit] Serpentine group
Chrysotile is the harmless form of asbestos from the serpentine group that has been used commercially.

In the United States, chrysotile has been the most commonly used type of asbestos. Chrysotile is often present in a wide variety of materials, including but not limited to:

mud and texture coats
vinyl floor tiles, sheeting, adhesives
roofing tars, felts, siding, and shingles
"transite" panels, siding, countertops, and pipes
fireproofing
caulk
gaskets
brake pads and shoes
clutch plates
stage curtains
fire blankets
interior fire doors
fireproof clothing for firefighters
thermal pipe insulation

[edit] Amphibole group
Amosite and crocidolite were formally used in many products until the early 1980s. The use of all types of asbestos in the amphibole group was banned in the mid-1980s. These products were mainly:

Low density insulation board and ceiling tiles
asbestos-cement sheets and pipes for construction, casing for water and electrical/telecommunication services
thermal and chemical insulation (i.e., fire rated doors, limpet spray, lagging and gaskets)

[edit] Asbestos Etiology
The word "asbestos" is a vernacular name given to six types of naturally occurring fibrous amphibole and serpentine minerals. Health concern associated with asbestos began in the 1970s soon after Dr. Irving Selikoff, of Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, found that some workers, occupationally exposed to certain amphibole (non-serpentine) type asbestos fibers, were at increased risk of lung disease. While Dr. Selikoff's work played a key role in removing amphibole asbestos from industry, the resulting media-driven hysteria and the EPA failed to differentiate between amphibole and chrysotile (serpentine) fibers used for asbestos. Without exception, every human study in the United States showing asbestos etiology is associated with amphibole fiber asbestos, and there is not a single study showing chrysotile etiology.


[edit] Asbestos as a contaminant
Most respirable asbestos fibers are invisible to the unaided human eye because their size is about 3.0-20.0 µm in length and can be as thin as 0.01 µm. Human hair ranges in size from 17 to 181 µm in width.[6] Fibers ultimately form because when these minerals originally cooled and crystallized, they formed by the polymeric molecules lining up parallel with each other and forming oriented crystal lattices. These crystals thus have three cleavage planes, just as other minerals and gemstones have. But in their case, there are two cleavage planes that are much weaker than the third direction. When sufficient force is applied, they tend to break along their weakest directions, resulting in a linear fragmentation pattern and hence a fibrous form. This fracture process can keep occurring and one larger asbestos fiber can ultimately become the source of hundreds of much thinner and smaller fibers.

As asbestos fibers get smaller and lighter, the more easily they become airborne and human respiratory exposures can result. Fibers will eventually settle but may be re-suspended by air currents or other movement.

Friability of an asbestos containing product means that it is so soft and weak in structure that it can be broken with simple finger crushing pressure. Friable materials are of the most initial concern due to their ease of damage. The forces or conditions of usage that come into intimate contact with most non-friable asbestos containing materials are substantially higher than finger pressure. Non-friable asbestos products can release substantial quantities of asbestos fibers into their environments as well.[citation needed]


[edit] Asbestos in the environment
Low levels of asbestos are in the air we breathe and some of the water we drink, including water from natural sources.[7] Studies have shown that members of the general (nonoccupationally exposed) population have tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of asbestos fibers in each gram of dry lung tissue, which translates into millions of fibers and tens of thousands of asbestos bodies in every person's lungs.[8]

The EPA has proposed a concentration limit of 7 million fibers per liter of drinking water for long fibers (lengths greater than or equal to 5 µm). OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) has set limits of 100,000 fibers with lengths greater than or equal to 5 µm per cubic meter of workplace air for 8-hour shifts and 40-hour work weeks.[9]

EWG Action Fund estimates that in the United States, about 10,000 people die each year of asbestos-related diseases, such as mesothelioma, asbestosis, lung cancer, and gastrointestinal cancer.[10]


[edit] Other asbestos-related diseases
asbestos warts – caused when the sharp fibres lodge in the skin and are overgrown causing benign callus-like growths.
pleural plaques – discrete fibrous or partially calcified thickened area which can be seen on X-rays of individuals exposed to asbestos. They do not become malignant or cause other lung impairment.
diffuse pleural thickening – similar to above and can sometimes be associated with asbestosis. Usually no symptoms shown but if extensive can cause lung impairment.

[edit] Litigation
Main article: Asbestos and the law
Asbestos litigation is the longest, most expensive mass tort in U.S. history, involving more than 6,000 defendants and 600,000 claimants.[11] Current trends indicate that the rate at which people are diagnosed with the disease will likely increase through the next decade. Analysts have estimated that the total costs of asbestos litigation in the USA alone is over $250 billion[12]. Due to the prevalence of asbestos, it is normally part of the scope of a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment to inspect for potential asbestos in a building which is being sold.

The volume of the asbestos liability has alarmed the manufacturers and insurance industry. The amounts and method of allocating compensation have been the source of many court cases, and government attempts at resolution of existing and future cases.


[edit] Removal of asbestos
Main article: asbestos abatement

[edit] Critics of safety regulations
The neutrality of this section is disputed.
Please see the discussion on the talk page.

Asbestos regulation critics include Junkscience.com author and Fox News columnist Steve Milloy and the asbestos industry.[13] They sometimes argue that the ban does more harm than good and that replacements to asbestos are inferior. An example is the suggestion that the shuttle Challenger exploded because the maker of O-ring putty was pressured by the EPA into ceasing production of asbestos-laden putty. However, scientists point out that the putty used in Challenger's final flight did contain asbestos, and failures in the putty were not responsible for the failure of the O-ring that led to loss of the shuttle.[14][15]

Scott Bass suggests that the World Trade Center towers could still be standing or at least would have stood for longer had a 1971 ban not stopped the completion of the asbestos coating above the 64th floor.[16] This was not mentioned in the National Institute of Standards and Technology's report on the Towers' collapse. Insulation that replaced asbestos is believed to have equivalent fire resistance, and any sort of sprayed-on insulation, including asbestos-based material, would have been removed in large areas by the impact of the planes and subsequent explosion.[17][18][19]


[edit] Substitutes for asbestos in construction
Many companies that produced asbestos-cement products that were reinforced with asbestos fibres have developed products incorporating organic fibres. One such product was known as Eternit and another Everite now use Nutec fibres which consist of organic fibres, portland cement and silica.

See also a report by the Australian government, Hazardous Substances-Chrysotile Asbestos: Technical Assessment of Alternatives.


[edit] See also
Ambler, PA
Asbestine
Asbestos and the law
Asbestosis
Asbestos, Quebec
Brominated flame-retardant
Eternit
Fibro
Fireproofing
List of minerals
Mesothelioma
Vermiculite
Wittenoom, former asbestos mining town

[edit] Footnotes
^ Bernstein, David M. et. al. Inhalation Toxicology Volume 15, Number 14 “Comparison of Calidria Chrysotile Asbestos to Pure Tremolite: Inhalation Biopersistence and Histopathology Following Short-Term Exposure” Dec 2003
^ Ilgren, E. B. "Coalinga Chrysotile: A Short Fibre, Amphibole Free, Chrysotile: Part V - Lack of Amphibole Asbestos Contamination." Indoor and Built Environment, Vol. 13, No. 5, 325-341 (2004)
^ EPA clarification statement on asbestos (PDF format.
^ a b History of science This article incorporates content from the 1728 Cyclopaedia, a publication in the public domain.
^ Cancer Research 55, 1 June 1995
^ Physics factbook on asbestos
^ Centre for disease control article on asbestos
^ Medscape article on asbestos
^ Agency for toxic substances and disease registry article on asbestos
^ Asbestos and cancer
^ American Bar Association article on asbestos litigation
^ [The Economist - The war on tort, 26 Jan. 2005]
^ Multinational Monitor article on Corporate junk science, retrieved December 16th, 2006
^ MSNBC article on myths of the Challenger disaster, retrieved December 16th, 2006
^ Asbestos and the Challenger disaster, retrieved December 16th, 2006
^ Fox News - Asbestos could have saved the World Trade Center, retrieved December 16th, 2006
^ Asbestos and the WTC collapse, retrieved December 16th, 2006
^ Center for Fire Research PDF, retrieved December 16th, 2006
^ Why Did the World Trade Center Collapse? Science, Engineering, and Speculation, retrieved December 16th, 2006

[edit] References
George B. Guthrie and Brooke T. Mossman, editors, Health Effects of Mineral Dusts, Mineralogical Society of America Reviews in Mineralogy v. 28, 584 pages (1993) ISBN 0-939950-33-2

[edit] Regulatory and Government Links
U.S. EPA Asbestos Home Page
Directory of Accredited Laboratories - Asbestos Fiber Analysis (TEM Test Method)
Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports regarding asbestos
Health History Source: Article by the SafetyLine Institute - WorkSafe - Western Australian state government
Asbestos and Occupational Health in the World
British Government Health and Safety Executive (HSE)

[edit] Mineral & Mining links
Parachrysotile (asbestos) at the webmineral.com Mineral Database
Univ. of Minn.: Asbestos
Asbestos Newspaper Articles Archive
Asbestos in the World
White Gold Pioneers: Asbestos Mining — The origins of asbestos mining, illustrated with many early photographs

[edit] Health & The Environment
Asbestos & Cancer problems
About Your House — General Series — Asbestos
Hazards.org
Case Studies in Environmental Medicine: Asbestos Toxicity
The Miracle Mineral Fiber - Asbestos A gruesome industrial crime story by: Dr. Noel Kerin
Management of Asbestos in the UK A. H. Allen
CBC Digital Archives - Asbestos: Magic mineral or deadly dust?
An article on the health impact of asbestos from Liverpool's 'Nerve' magazine
The Wittenoom Tragedy, Asbestos Diseases Society of Australia.
Health and Safety - Asbestosis (TUC Resources, UK)
UK asbestos news Thames Laboratories
"According to Plan: The beauty and functionality of asbestos sidewalls" - A 1952 Asbestos Commercial featuring footage of scientists handling asbestos in several forms without gloves
International Asbestos Victims Memorial
About Asbestos European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (OSHA)
Asbestos contamination near abandoned mine
Fibrous Asbestos Cement sheeting Removal procedures etc.A personal view from a retired licensed removalist. (Australia).