Asbestos - magic silicate mineral of the gods!

Asbestos - is a silicate mineral that has many uses. There are actually six such minerals that are classified by the United States Environmental Protection Agency as "asbestos", including "chrysolitem amositem crocidolite, tremolite and anthophylite."

Asbestos comes from the Greek word, roughly translated "unquenchable".

Asbestos use dates back at least 4500 years ago, when it used by the ancients to strengthen their earthen ware clay pots making it also heat resistant. Asbestos was also used by warrior cultures in the King's funeral pyre's - to prevent the mixing of the kings ashes with wood or other combustible materials, during cremation. They accomplished this carefully by wrapping the deceased in an asbestos shroud.

It was said that Charlemagne the Great, the first Holy Roman Emperer is said to have had a tablecloth made of asestos. About the same time there is numerous referenences to asbestos fiber clothing being made for people to wear.

While traveling in China, for example Marco PoloMarco Polo described observing miraculous clothing that "were cleaned by placing them in the fire". These were most likely made of asbestos material.

Likewise wealthy Persians also prized asbestos which was at the time imported over the Hindu Kush mountain range near the Afghanistan border region - on the back of slaves and other beasts of burdens! Condemned slaves were also forced to mine asbestos using only their bare hands in many cases. These people suffered horrific deaths due to breathing in asbestos fibers, which were indestrucable inside the lungs, and cause a lot of pain as people struggled to breath inside the asbestos mines!

During the Roman era, Pithany was the first to note the adverse health effects of asbestos on slaves who mined the substance from the earth.

RECENT USAGES

In more modern times asbestos has been used as a commerical building material that has insulation and heat resistant properties, therefore it was used in all kinds of stuff including insulation material, bricks, mortar, concrete, pipes...the list goes on!

So much so that it was causing serious health effects on people. Today many asbestos products are banned!

ASBESTOS DANGERS

Estimates vary considerably, but approximately 100,000 people in the United States have died, or will die, from asbestos exposure related to ship building. In the Hampton Roads area, a massive ship building center - mesothemioma occurrence is seven times the national average. It seems that hundreds of thousands of tons of asbestos was used in world war 2; for every 1,000 workers 14 are said to have died of mesothemioma and an unknown number died of asbestosis.

In addition asbestos was used in brake pads and clutch discs. I also found information that Kent's filtered cigarettes used crocidolite asbestos in it's "micronite" filters from at least 1952- 1956. In that case as many as 7 million people could have been exposed. In cross checking the reference I discovered that crocidolite is among the most hazardous of the asbestos minerals because of their long persistence in the lungs of exposed people! A fact the manufacturer may have been aware of when it stop producing the filters that was in 1956 over reported instances that people were being sick from their product. You must remember that during the 1950's cigarettes were promoted for their beneficial effects. One advertisement dated 1956 read: "More scientists and educators smoke Kent with the micronite filters than any other cigarette. Kent is my favorite too!" In one case a jury awarded $1,048,100.00 to two children of a woman who contracted and died from malignant abdominal mesothelioma caused by her exposure to asbestos during the period from 1953-1956, when she smoke the hell out of Kent micronite asbestos filtered cigarettes.

The trail began on April 17, 2000 before San Francisco Superior Court Judge John E Munter (a smoker himself) . A jury was impaneled to hear the case and heard testimony. Closing arguments were presented May 2, 2000. The plaintiffs were Donna Traverso and Paul Bucedi. The defendants was Lorillard Tobacco Company, manufacturer of the micronite asbestos filtered cigarettes.

Testimony included doctor statements, diagnosis, and x-rays

This just example one instance and one product that contains asbestos. There are many more. This is not to say that asbestos does not have legitimate uses. It does. The problem is that is is harmful to human and if breathed into the lungs and could lead to an agonizing and slow death of mesotheiloma.

Many people assume that newly manufactured products sold in the United States do not contain asbestos. This is not true! Asbestos can be found in common household products as well as some toys from China. On recent report indicated that asbestos was found in the fingerprint powder found in most police CSI kits. Anyone who has ever used fingerprint powder know the stuff is super fine and get all over everywhere. Including some that might be breathed in by accident.