Asbestos - a Hazard in the News

 A warm welcome to Matt Phillips,
our newest contributing author. 

Please afford him the same courtesy and consideration
that we enjoy from all our readers.

I hope Matt doesn't mind my grangerizing his post
by adding photos (grangerize, to add illustrations,
is the word of the day from dictionary.com and
their hot word blog, from our blog roll; I couldn't resist.)
____________________________________

Most people in the U.S. are at least somewhat aware of the dangers of asbestos, but not many consider it a pressing issue anymore. However, asbestos and asbestos-related diseases appear in the news with some frequency. The most serious of these diseases is mesothelioma, a rare and deadly cancer of the lining of the chest and abdomen. Asbestos use in the U.S. peaked in the mid-20th century, though the dangers of exposure to the substance had been known for many years. Many employers withheld this information from their workers and failed to provide proper protective gear for those who came into contact with asbestos on a regular basis. Since symptoms of mesothelioma can take between 20 and 50 years to manifest, many workers whose health was compromised are only now beginning to show signs of illness and seek restitution.


photo of the then-vacant
Deutsche Bank
at Ground Zero,
one year after the
attack on 9/11/'01
courtesy of
http://gonyc.about.com/od/
photogalleries/l/bl_wtc01.htm

One very prominent source of asbestos news has been the wreckage caused by the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. A number of toxins were released into the air upon the destruction of the Twin Towers and surrounding buildings, posing a danger to workers, residents, and rescue personnel. The danger did not completely pass with the settling of the dust, either. The Deutsche Bank building, which is only now being completely disassembled, routinely tested positive for the presence of asbestos, among other pollutants. Tragically, we may have yet to understand the full scope of the toll 9/11 took on public health.

These buildings are toxic not simply because they contain asbestos, but because the material that contains the asbestos was damaged, releasing its deadly fibers into the air. Mesothelioma symptoms most often occur in construction workers who worked with these materials, but they can certainly be dangerous for the inhabitants or occupants of the buildings, as well. Most recently, government buildings in both Broward County, Florida, and Allen County, Indiana, tested positive for asbestos. In the Florida case, testing only began after one judge passed away from a highly aggressive type of lung cancer mere weeks after being diagnosed.

photo from
mesotheliomalungs.org

While asbestos use was banned in the 1980s in the United States and has been banned or restricted in other industrialized nations, many developing countries still use the material because of its low cost and high availability. According to a 2010 report by the U.S. Geological Survey, Russia is the largest miner and exporter of asbestos, but China, Brazil, Kazakhstan, and – shockingly – Canada also mine large quantities of the mineral. This asbestos is being used primarily by China, India, Russia, Brazil, and Thailand. As more countries enact restrictions, hopefully the narrowing market will lead to the decreased production and consumption of asbestos worldwide.

Sources:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40990993/40982943
http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/asbestos/mcs-2010-asbes.pdf
http://www.mesotheliomasymptoms.com/mesothelioma-symptoms