Asbestos Topics

• asbestos cement
• asbestos fibers
• pipe insulation
• electrical insulation
• malignant mesothelioma
• floor tiles
• ancient literature
• heat resistance
• roof sheets
• flame retardant
• amphiboles
• ups and downs
• chrysotile
• fibrillar
• brake linings
• flat sheets
• diseases of the skin
• anion
• asbestosis
• silicate

Related Images

Source

Source

Source

del.icio.us Tags

• wikipedia
• asbestos
• health
• data
• materials
• homeproducts
• milieu
• debates
• environment
• dfile
• #afterdarkclub
• -
• pollution

Asbestos, Asbestos

The inhalation of asbestos fibers can cause serious illnesses, including malignant mesothelioma, lung cancer, and asbestosis (a type of pneumoconiosis).

Asbestos was used in some products 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.

Chrysotile has been used more than any other type and accounts for about 95% of the asbestos found in buildings in America.

The most common use is within corrugated asbestos cement roof sheets typically used for outbuildings, warehouses and garages. It is also found as flat sheets used for ceilings and sometimes for walls and floors. Numerous other items have been made containing chrysotile including brake linings, cloth behind fuses (for fire protection), pipe insulation, floor tiles, and rope seals for boilers.

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 crystal structure containing strongly bonded ribbonlike silicate anion polymers that extend the length of the crystal. Serpentine (chrysotile) has a sheetlike silicate anion which is curved and which rolls up like a carpet to form the fiber.

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.

By the 1930s, England regulated ventilation and made asbestosis an excusable work related disease, about ten years sooner than the U.S.

Production of asbestos in Japan peaked in 1974 and went through ups and downs until about 1990, when production began to drop severely.

In the United States, chrysotile has been the most commonly used type of asbestos.

Japan is moving in the same direction, but more slowly. Revelations that hundreds of workers had died in Japan over the previous few decades from diseases related to asbestos sparked a scandal in mid-2005.

Amosite, the second most likely type to be found in buildings, according to the U.S. EPA Asbestos Building Inspectors Guide, is the "brown" asbestos.

Tremolite often contaminates chrysotile asbestos, thus creating an additional hazard.

P. Brodeur, "Annals of Law, The Asbestos Industry on Trial, 1-A Failure to Warn", The New Yorker , June 10, 1985, pp 57 Early concern in the modern era on the health effects of asbestos exposure can be found in several sources.

D. Auribault, "Note sur l'Hygine et la Scurit des Ouvriers dans les Filatures et Tissages d'Amiant (On hygiene and security of the workers in the spinning and weaving of asbestos)" in Le Bulletin de l'Inspection du Travail, 1906, pp 120132.

Cooke, a pathologist, who introduced a case description of a 33-year-old female asbestos worker with the following: "Medical men in areas where asbestos is manufactured have long suspected the dust to be the cause of chronic bronchitis and fibrosis...." W. E. Cooke, "Fibrosis of the Lungs Due to the Inhalation of Asbestos Dust", British Medical Journal , 1927, pg. 487.

In the report he named the disease "asbestosis". W. E. Cooke, "Pulmonary Asbestosis", British Medical Journal , 1927, pp. 10241025, cited in G. Peters & B. Peters, Sourcebook on Asbestos Diseases , Volume 1, 1980, pg. G1 Dr. Cooke's second case report was followed, in the late 1920s, by a large public health investigation (now known as the Merewether report after one of its two authors) that examined some 360 asbestos-textile workers (reported to be about 15% of the total comparable employment in Britain at the time) and found that about a quarter of them suffered from pulmonary fibrosis. E.R.A. Merewether & C. W. Price, "Report on Effects of Asbestos Dust on the Lung" H.M. Stationery Office, 1930 This investigation resulted in improved regulation of the manufacturing of asbestos-containing products in the early 1930s.

R. G. Mills, "Pulmonary Asbestosis: Report of a Case", Minnesota Medicine , July 1930, pp 495499.

Castleman, Asbestos: Medical and Legal Aspects , 4th edition, Aspen Law and Business, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1996, p.195.

A memo in the files noted that the company "succeeded in stopping" the letter, which "will be modified." Castleman, Asbestos , p.66970.

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 read the EPA's clarification statement.

In 2002 the import of chrysotile (white) asbestos was banned. Smartt, Pamela.

Overall, 32 different types of crayons from these brands contained more than trace amounts of asbestos, and eight others contained trace amounts. The Art and Creative Materials Institute, a trade association which tests the safety of crayons on behalf of the makers, initially insisted the test results must be incorrect, although they later said they do not test for asbestos.

Until the mid-1980s, white asbestos was used in the manufacture of Artex, a decorative stipple finish.

Many older buildings contain asbestos. In the United States, there is a minimum standard for asbestos surveys as described by ASTM Standard E 2356-04. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency includes some but not all asbestos-contaminated facilities on the Superfund National Priorities list . Renovation and demolition of asbestos contaminated buildings is subject to EPA NESHAP and OSHA Regulations. Asbestos is not a material covered under CERCLA's innocent purchaser defense. In the UK, the removal and disposal of asbestos and of substances containing it are covered by the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006 Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006 , Health and Safety Exceutive, London, UK, Undated .Accessed: 12-29-2008.

Millions of homes, factories, schools or sheds and shelters continue to use asbestos. Cutting these sheets to size and drilling holes to receive 'J' bolts to help secure the sheets to roof framing is done on site. There has been no significant change in production and use of A/C Sheets in developing countries following the widespread restrictions in developed nations.

Cong. Hearing: Asbestos Litigation. 107th Cong., 2nd sess. HRG.107-993. Washington: GPO, 2002.

Asbestos Litigation Costs and Compensation. Santa Monica,CA: RAND, 2002.

It stressed that the French measures were not discriminatory, and were fully justified for public health reasons. The EC said that in the July consultations, it had tried to convince Canada that the measures were justified, and that just as Canada broke off consultations, it was in the process of submitting substantial scientific data in favour of the asbestos ban.

All fibre-based lightweight commercial spray fireproofing materials are vulnerable to kinetic energy impacts that are outside of the fire testing upon which their ratings are based, including asbestos-based materials, and would have been removed in large areas by the impact of the planes.

The safety of this material is also being called into question, as research shows that the composition of this material causes similar toxicity as asbestos.

Because of its exceptional thermal and chemical stability, it is often used by fire departments and space agencies. Post Office sealed off for asbestos removal Asbestos alternatives for industrial use include sleeves, rope, tape, fabric and insulation batt materials made from fiberglass and silica.

Source: Wikipedia > Asbestos