Asbestos Products
Manufactures used asbestos because it is cheap, abundant,
extremely versatile, chemically inert, and highly impervious
to heat. Asbestos is broken down into its composition
fibers once it is retrieved from the earth and then added
to products to give them strength, durability, and heat
resistance. Asbestos is an ideal additive for many products
because it has what is referred to as tensile strength;
that is, it is flexible but strong without adding a significant
amount of weight. Asbestos is also one of the few minerals
that can be woven. It was often woven into insulators
that were too brittle to be used alone. Today, asbestos
is tightly regulated and only used in a few products
in an extremely controlled manner. During its peak, however,
asbestos was used in some very common products including:
- Adhesives
- Brake Pads
- Cement
- Chalkboards
- Duct Installation
- Electrical Cloth
- Electrical Ducts
- Felt
- Fireproofing Materials
- Floor Title
- Gaskets
- Heating Ducts
- Installation
- Ironing Board Covers
- Paint
- Paper
- Pipe Covering
- Plaster
- Putty
- Rope
- Tape
- Wires
- Yarn
In its natural, solid form, asbestos is relatively harmless.
When cut, crushed, drilled or disturbed in any other way,
asbestos fibers become airborne and are extremely toxic.
The sharp, microscopic fibers are inhaled through the lungs
and eventually pass on to the edges of the lung where they
are absorbed into the pleura, the vital membrane that surrounds,
protects, and lubricates the lungs. The jagged fibers cause
lesions and scarring in the lungs in the form of a non-cancerous,
but often fatal disease called asbestosis.
If asbestos fibers move into the pleural mesothelium surrounding
the lungs, irritation from the fibers can result in the
onset of malignant
mesothelioma. The cancer eventually metastasizes, spreading
to distant organs through the bloodstream.
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