Asbestos Exposure: Causes and Risks

Asbestos is a group of minerals with fine microscopic fibers. Since these fibers are resistant to heat, fire and chemicals, and non-electrically conductive, asbestos was mined and widely used in construction, automotive and other industries used.

If products containing asbestos are disturbed, tiny fibers are released into the air. If they are inhaled, they can be trapped in the lungs and remain there for many years. Over time, these fibers can accumulate and cause serious health problems, including:

Asbestosis, a chronic inflammatory disease of the lungs, shortness of breath, coughing, and eventually scarring of the lungs that makes breathing difficult can cause.
Mesothelioma, a rare cancer that affects the lining of the lungs, the chest or abdomen.

Lung cancer.
Other problems with the respiratory tract, including pleural plaques (changes in the membranes surrounding the lungs), thickening of the mucous membrane around the lungs, and pleural effusions (abnormal collections of fluid between the lung and the inner wall of the chest.
Studies have also an association between asbestos and other cancers, including cancers of the gastrointestinal tract, throat, kidney, brain, bladder, larynx, gallbladder proposed, and others. However, the evidence is not conclusive.

Asbestos: Causes and Risks

Asbestos at work can occur at home or community. Used degraded and commercially since the 1800s, asbestos was used in many products including: tiles, including brake shoes and brake pads car clutch, building materials, ceiling and floor paints, varnishes and adhesives, plastics, garden products with vermiculite and talc- containing crayons. Was due to the regulations and health concerns, asbestos is far less widespread than a few decades ago.

Most poisonings occur when asbestos asbestos workers, but there is some evidence that family members of workers heavily exposed to asbestos face an increased risk of mesothelioma, probably brought on account of exposure to asbestos fibers home on clothing, skin and hair. Cases of mesothelioma have also been observed in people living near asbestos mines.

Another group at increased risk for diseases associated with asbestos workers are given in 11 September 2001, involved attacks on the World Trade Center in New York. Asbestos was used in the construction of the North Tower, and hundreds of tons of asbestos were released into the atmosphere during the attack.

Several factors are how asbestos exposure affects an individual involved. These include:

• How much asbestos a person was exposed
• How long the person has been exposed
• The composition of size, shape and chemical properties of asbestos fibers
• The presence of other lung diseases
• Smoking also increases the risk of problems associated with asbestos exposure.

There are various forms of asbestos. While all forms are considered hazardous, different types of asbestos fibers with different health risks are associated. For example, the results of several studies suggest that amphibole (which have longer, more durable fibers) forms may be more harmful than chrysotile forms (which have crimped fibers), particularly for mesothelioma risk, because they tend to be longer in the lungs.

Asbestos cancer and other health problems will take many years to develop. Most cases of lung cancer or asbestosis in asbestos workers occur 15 or more years after initial exposure to asbestos. For mesothelioma, the latency is even longer. The delay between exposure to asbestos and mesothelioma original was generally 30 years or more.