Asbestos: How harmful is it?
We all know that asbestos is lethal. Anyone who walks into a building that contains the slightest bit of asbestos-based insulation will die horribly. Or will they?
The Royal Society of Chemistry has an article on page four of this newsletter that discusses the issue. It tells us that not all forms of asbestos are created equal. There are two types discussed in the article: amphiboles (or brown and blue) and chrysolites (also known as white). About 95% of asbestos used in the U.S. and 98% of that used worldwide fits into the second category, the chrysolites.
While health hazards from amphiboles are well-documented, and they have been widely banned, chrysolites have not been proven harmful. The effort to have chrysolites banned often stems from manufacturers of alternative materials that are more expensive and have a safety record that is as bad or worse. It's a typical bootleggers and baptists situation.
posted by Anonymous @ 12:05 PM
2 Comments:
I find it interesting that the one of the original studies of asbestos and cancer is even debated today. It's still not clear whether exposure to white asbestos is related to lung cancer because the workers with the highest rate of lung cancer also smoked. Even so, (if asbestos is that BAD) the amount that we are exposed to is less in comparison then allowed levels of radon in our neighborhoods. To read more click here.
The issue with asbestos was the people who worked day in adn day out with it, the ones who breathed in the stuff every hour on the job. There are far more lung problems to do with asbestos that arent cancer than there are. But i imagine if insulation was used in the same context as asbestos was lung problems would most liekly be high. Anything foreign chemical that is constantly inhaled on a regular basis is most likely going to have a serious consequence. Asbestos might be safe to a point that mnost normal people who ate exposed to it would be fine, but it those who continually work with it. And that cna be fixed if asbestos is overall safe as long as there is not constant constinous inhalation it should be alright.
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