Before people realized that asbestos is a material hazardous to health, it was widely used in various fields of the national economy. Most often - during the construction of various buildings and structures. Until the seventies of the last century, this fibrous substance was especially appreciated for its excellent heat resistance and excellent resistance to weather conditions. However, scientists soon drew attention to some of the negative properties of asbestos. The harm to human health of this material and its impact on the environment have been the subject of many scientific studies.
According to the results of the work, this material was included in the list of the most dangerous substances according to the IARC classification, today it is considered one of the most dangerous carcinogens. But why did people think about the destructive properties of this material? How much harm does asbestos cause to health? Let's try to figure it out.
What is asbestos?
Asbestos is a mineral substance that belongs to the category of fine-fiber silicates. In nature, many of its deposits are found. In its natural form, it is a mineral compound having a spatial structure in the form of the thinnest flexible fibers. There are two options for the structure:
- amphibole-asbestos - has a structure in the form of straight needle-shaped fibers;
- chrysotile asbestos, or white asbestos, has a structure in the form of serpentines, that is, complexly curved or twisted fibers.
Amphibole, in turn, is divided into two subgroups - crocidolites (blue asbestos) and amosites (brown asbestos).
Fragile amphibole asbestos are considered more dangerous: small and sharp particles inhaled by a person during the destruction of fibers are harmful to health. Once in the body, harmful dust does not dissolve and is not excreted from the lungs - there it remains for life, gradually growing into the tissue and poisoning the host.
Serpentines have a softer structure, therefore, are considered less dangerous. They, unlike amphibole, quickly dissolve and are excreted from the body without causing much harm.
Where was asbestos used?
During its heyday, this mineral was widely used in various types of production, in the automotive industry, shipbuilding, aircraft manufacturing, and, of course, in construction. To this day, we can find this substance in old residential buildings, where it was used in the elements of building pipe insulation, ceiling and floor ceilings, paints and finishing materials, as a cement additive and in the manufacture of roofing slate. This material was actively used in the construction of bathhouses on personal plots. Summer residents did not suspect that when heating asbestos, health damage increases several times.
It was used in the production of consumer goods - heaters, household utensils, cosmetics, and even in the manufacture of children's crayons. At that time, it never occurred to anyone how dangerous small particles of asbestos could be.
The health damage received from the exposure to this mineral was felt primarily by those people who participated in the production process.
The first information about the danger of the mineral
The first information about the health hazards of asbestos began to come after a survey of employees of mining mines, who also used this material in their work. Many workers revealed various pathologies, signs of cancer, and violations of the bronchopulmonary system were especially common.
After numerous studies, the International Agency for Research on Cancer in 1987 announced the result: asbestos is harmful to health. Lung cancer, mesothelioma, various fibrosis, asbestosis of varying severity and other types of oncological neoplasms in the human body appear precisely due to the effects of amphibole.
The European community was shocked by the results, so today in many countries the use of this material in production or construction is strictly prohibited. Immediately after information about the harmful effects of amphibole on humans became available to the public, in various countries all kinds of campaigns began to replace asbestos-containing components with structures made of alternative materials.
Can fatal effects be avoided?
Unfortunately, it is impossible to completely exclude asbestos-containing substances from our lives. This mineral is found in small amounts in soil, air and water. Today, according to some reports, more than a million workers in various industries are still in contact with the harmful substance due to the impossibility of its exclusion from the process.
Where else is asbestos
This mineral is still present in obsolete car models, some residential buildings, in old summer cottages. For many summer residents, the source of special harm to health is asbestos in the bathhouse. After all, even in Soviet times it was used as a fire-resistant material for various coatings.
Asbestos does not burn, but when exposed to high temperatures it begins to collapse, while releasing harmful amphibole. Not all owners of suburban cottages are aware that they are putting themselves and their households in mortal danger.
Scope today
In Russia, despite the obvious harm to health, asbestos is contained in more than 3,000 different products: it is used for the production of filters and tarpaulins, paper and cardboard, protective suits for firefighters and some asbestos-cement building materials. In our country, it is allowed to be used in many industrial technologies, but the use should be clearly controlled.
By the way, it’s worth a reservation here. Not asbestos products themselves are harmful to the human body, but small particles of this mineral, which are in the air in the form of a suspension. Usually, a suspended state of fine asbestos dust can be observed only at field development, in some technological processes of various industries, or during the destruction of old buildings. To obtain harmful particles in the domestic environment, you will need to purposefully grind an asbestos-containing product (the same slate).
However, any products begin to deteriorate over time. As a result of aging, mineral fibers break down into fine dust, and it can become an allergen to the human body. Once in the lungs, there remains forever destructive asbestos. Damage to health, growing into tissue, it brings colossal. Although the first signs of malaise can appear only after a few years. It is known that in people coming into contact with such dust, various oncological formations on average arose only after 7 years, in many patients an even longer period passed.
Scary statistics
According to statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO), it is asbestos that causes cancer of the bronchopulmonary system in 20% of patients. Therefore, asbestos-containing technologies are abandoned throughout the world.
The causes of the disease
It is still not clear how exactly asbestos dust causes pulmonary diseases. Most likely, the development of pathologies occurs due to trauma to the mucous membranes, which causes hyperplasia, metaplasia and the growth of the epithelium. Manifestations of metaplasia are associated with the chemical composition of certain mineral varieties containing kieselguhr. It is believed that the oncological diseases of the bronchopulmonary system are not promoted by the chemical properties of asbestos, but by severe bronchiectatic changes due to constant inhalation of dust.
However, in any case, the underlying cause of the disease is the inflammatory processes of the respiratory tract in the form of chronic rhinopharyngitis and bronchiolitis, caused by the mechanical and chemical effects of asbestos dust.
Take care of yourself and your loved ones! Do not be exposed to harmful dust!