Facts about Asbestos

Asbestos regulation critics include Junkscience.com author and Fox News columnist Steve Milloy and the asbestos industry.

Structural components like asbestos panels were also used.

Chrysotile is the form of asbestos from the serpentine group that has been used commercially.

Many buildings contain asbestos, which was used in spray-applied flame retardant, thermal system insulation, and in a variety of other materials.

Asbestos fibers were once used in automobile brake pads and shoes.

Most breathable asbestos fibers are invisible to the unaided human eye because their size is about 3.0-20.0 µm in length and can be as thin as 0.01 µm.

Others assert that the ancients used asbestos to make perpetual wicks for sepulchral lamps.

Non-friable asbestos products can release substantial quantities of asbestos fibers into their environments as well.

Interventions in areas where asbestos is present often have to follow stringent procedures.

Analysts remain skeptical, however, that Islamist parties will gain enough electoral support to significantly change Bangladesh's largely Western-style legal and parliamentary systems.

Low levels of asbestos are in the air people breathe and some of the water people drink, including water from natural sources.

Friability of an asbestos containing product means that it is so soft and weak in structure that it can be broken with simple, finger crushing pressure.

The forces or conditions of usage that come into intimate contact with most non-friable asbestos containing materials are substantially higher than finger pressure.

Kent, the first filtered cigarette on the market, used crocidolite asbestos in its "Micronite" filter from 1952 to 1956.

Due to the prevalence of asbestos, it is normally part of the scope of a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment to inspect for potential asbestos in a building which is being sold.

Asbestos with particularly fine fibers is also referred to as "amianthus."

Recently, a new method was developed to remove asbestos from fireproof materials, without reducing the material's fire-resistance.

The volume of the asbestos liability has alarmed the manufacturers and insurance industry.

The name asbestos is based on its historical use in lamp wicks.

The asbestos removal may take longer and cost more than the actual demolition.

Asbestos describes any member of a group of minerals that can be fibrous, many of which are hydrous magnesium silicates.

An example is the suggestion that the space shuttle Challenger exploded because the maker of O-ring putty was pressured by the EPA into ceasing production of asbestos-laden putty.

Asbestos was sometimes "flocked" above false ceilings, inside technical ducts, and in many other small spaces where firefighters would have difficulty gaining access.

Asbestos litigation is the longest, most expensive mass tort in U.S. history, involving more than 6,000 defendants and 600,000 claimants.

EWG Action Fund estimates that in the United States, about 10,000 people die each year of asbestos-related diseases, such as mesothelioma, asbestosis, lung cancer, and gastrointestinal cancer.

Given its heat resistance, asbestos is used in brake shoes and gaskets.

Amosite and crocidolite were used in many products until the early 1980s, when the use of all types of asbestos in the amphibole group was banned.

In 1989, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) passed the Asbestos Ban and Phase Out Rule, which was subsequently overturned in the case of Corrosion Proof Fittings v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1991.

A foam developed by the Brookhaven National Lab and W.R. Grace & Co, which has won an R&D award, is able to chemically remove asbestos from fireproof while preserving its fireproof abilities.

The severity of cancer triggered by asbestos depends on the type of asbestos.

Depending on how and where asbestos was applied, it might not pose any risk to most users of the building.

Inhalation of some types of asbestos fibers, however, can cause a number of serious illnesses, including cancer.

Asbestos poses hazards to maintenance personnel who have to drill holes in walls for installation of cables or pipes.

All forms of asbestos are fibrillar, in that they are composed of bundles of long fibers, each of which has a width of less than 1 micrometer.

Many companies that produced asbestos-cement products that were reinforced with asbestos fibers have developed products incorporating organic fibers.