Why Asbestos Exposure is Dangerous to Health

Asbestos is a term used for some naturally occurring minerals that form long thin fibers and fiber bundles on crystallization. Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral substance that can be pulled into a fluffy consistency. Asbestos fibers are soft and flexible yet resistant to heat, electricity and chemical corrosion. Pure asbestos is an effective insulator, and it can also be mixed into cloth, paper, cement, plastic and other materials to make them stronger. Asbestos is not a single type of mineral, it refers to a group of silicate minerals that share the same fibrous nature.

These qualities once made asbestos very profitable for business, but unfortunately, they also make asbestos highly toxic.

4 Facts about Asbestos

• Refers to a group of fibrous, heat-resistant minerals
• Once a common ingredient in construction materials
• Microscopic fibers can become trapped in the body, causing disease over time
• Industry executives covered up health dangers for decades

Most commonly found a group is a serpentine group that includes Chrysotile (white asbestos). Another very important asbestos group is known as the amphiboles, which includes Crocidolite (blue asbestos) and Amosite (brown asbestos). Asbestos has been used extensively all over the world.

Why Is Asbestos Dangerous?

Asbestos is a hazardous material, it poses a health risk only if the Asbestos fibers become airborne and subsequently inhaled. Microscopic asbestos fibers cannot be seen, smelled or tasted, and asbestos exposure does not cause any immediate symptoms, so it is easy for a person to inhale or swallow asbestos dust without realizing it. Once asbestos fibers are in the body, they never dissolve, and the body has extreme difficulty expelling them. Asbestos fibers can cause inflammation, scarring and eventually genetic damage to the body’s cells.

Asbestos-related illnesses often take 20-50 years to develop.

Asbestos-related illnesses can also develop in people who lived in a contaminated environment or used asbestos-containing consumer products on a regular basis. No amount of asbestos exposure is safe, but asbestos generally has the worst effects when a person is exposed to an intense concentration of it, or they are exposed on a regular basis over a long period of time.

Vancouver Asbestos Removal offers these services:

• Asbestos Testing
• Asbestos Removal
• Mold (Mould) Removal
• Lead Removal
• Insulation Removal & Replacement

Contact Vancouver Asbestos Removal for any Asbestos related issues.