How much do you know about asbestos? Other than the fact that it’s dangerous for their health, most people don’t know much else about it. Fortunately, asbestos removal in Auckland reveal everything you need to know about asbestos – including a short history, how many types there are, and why it’s so hazardous.
Table of Contents
What Is Asbestos?
Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral that is mined. It has a hard surface, and it looks and feels like a rock. However, when asbestos is broken open, it has fibrous material inside, which is what makes it so dangerous.
When Asbestos Started Being Used
Even though large-scale asbestos mining began in the 1900s, it has been used since the year 4,500, in ancient Greece and the Roman Empire. It was used to make hundreds of different items, from building materials to tools and clothing.
Why Asbestos Was Such A Popular Material
The name “asbestos” is a Greek word, which means “indestructible” or “inextinguishable.” It got this name because it is incredibly hard-wearing and long-lasting. Products with asbestos in their makeup can last up to fifty years. It’s also fire, acid and electricity resistant, with impressive insulation properties. It’s no wonder that it was used so extensively as a building material.
Asbestos is a natural material considered to be a miracle, because it could be used to manufacture thousands of products, and because it’s durable. When the world started mining it extensively in the 1900s, asbestos was used in countless applications across the planet, in steam locomotives, oil refineries, factories, chemical plants and more.
It was primarily used to insulate boilers, furnaces and pipes in steam engines. Not only is it an indestructible material; it was also cheap and easy to come by, which means that it very quickly became a favourite construction and manufacturing material.
From the 1900s, it was being used more often in home and building construction. If your home was built before it was banned, you would most likely find asbestos in the following places:
- Plaster
- Roofing shingles
- Floor and ceiling tiles
- Joint compounds
- Cement
- Fencing
- Vinyl flooring adhesives
Asbestos is also used in manufacturing clutches and brakes in vehicles. However, it was not only in our homes, offices, and cars but even in everyday items such as talcum powder, children’s toys and toothpaste.
People only started realising that asbestos was usafe to be around in the late 1800s, with the first official death related to asbestos exposure in 1906. However, the first diagnosis of an asbestos-related illness was only in 1924. As the years passed, concern about asbestos-related diseases grew, until eventually its use started phasing out. It was ultimately banned in New Zealand in 1987.
The Types Of Asbestos
The word “asbestos” actually describes a naturally occurring mineral of fibrous silicate. Most people only know of white and brown asbestos, when, in reality, there are six different types to be found.
- Chrysotile – The white asbestos, and the most common type. It’s part of the serpentine group of asbestos, because its fibres are long and curly, making it easy to be woven into ropes or fabrics. White asbestos was most commonly used in walls, flooring, ceilings and roofs.
- Amosite – This asbestos is brown, and the second most recognised type. It was used in construction of ceiling tiles, pipe insulation and cement sheets.
- Crocidolite – This asbestos is blue coloured, and is harder and more brittle than other types. This asbestos is the most lethal, because the fibres break and spread very easily.
- Tremolite – This type of asbestos is found mostly in vermiculite, and was used in talcum powder.
- Actinolite – This asbestos is either green or transparent in colour. It’s also one of the least common types of asbestos.
- Anthophyllite – Grey-brown in colour, this type was mostly used in some flooring products.
All six types of asbestos are carcinogens. That means that if you were exposed to asbestos of any kind, you could contract an asbestos-related illness. If you live in New Zealand, you’ll know that the most common type found in the country is chrysolite, followed by amosite and crocidolite.
New Zealand was one of the most progressive countries when it came to asbestos. NZ started asbestos awareness in the 1930s and banned blue asbestos imports in the 80s. In the late 1980s it was banned, and in 2016 it became illegal to bring any product into the country that contained asbestos at all.
Now, many asbestos removal companies work tirelessly around the country, removing asbestos from every home, office and public building. To be safe, friable and non-friable asbestos needs to be removed and disposed of safely so that fewer people contract asbestos-related illnesses.
Why Is Asbestos Dangerous?
When asbestos is intact, the chance of being exposed to the risks are lessened. However, when it’s been damaged, the microscopic fibres inside become airborne, which are breathed into the lungs easily. Once asbestos fibres, also known as asbestos dust, enters your lungs, they become lodged deep within the tissue, damaging it and causing the development of scar tissue.
Exposure to asbestos – for any amount of time – causes asbestos-related lung diseases such as asbestosis. It also causes mesothelioma, which is an incurable and fatal lung cancer. Asbestos exposure also makes you more susceptible to other forms of disease and cancer in the lungs.
So far, asbestos has been banned in 66 countries around the world because of the health risks it poses. The World Health Organisation says that on average, over 100,000 people die every year from mesothelioma and other asbestos-related illnesses. Today, scientists have not found a safer replacement for asbestos. There is no other naturally occurring mineral which is as heat and acid resistant, nor can be woven into fibres for fabric. It’s safe to say, that if not for its severe risks to our health, asbestos would still be used as extensively as before, if not more so.
Conclusion
Asbestos is not a friendly substance that you can play around with. The legal consequences of bringing it into New Zealand in its raw form, or contained within manufactured goods, are serious. Even worse, if you’re exposed to asbestos, even for a short time, you can contract severe illnesses, which will shorten your lifespan significantly. Thankfully, asbestos removal specialists in Auckland are working hard to remove it from homes across the city. Now that you know more about asbestos, hopefully you’ll be more cautious if you come into contact with it.