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Asbestos a fire-retardant, an insulator, and cheap, at first glance it appears to be a wonderful substance, but alas just like Halon (a gaseous fire extinguisher, which is now known to contain CFCs and therefore banned) it has as many negatives as positives (it causes a lung condition called Asbestos Mesothelioma)

Historically items made of asbestos were held in so great an esteem as to be of equal value with gold; only emperors and kings had napkins made of it. Supposedly, Charlemagne had a tablecloth made of asbestos. Cleaning an asbestos cloth was simple- it was simply thrown into a fire! Some antiquaries have believed that ancients made shrouds of asbestos, wherein they burnt the bodies of their kings, in order to preserve only their ashes, and prevent their being mixed with those of wood, or other combustible materials commonly used in building funeral pyres.

More recently chrysotile (the most popular form of asbestos) has been used in a wide variety of materials such as: vinyl floor tiles, sheeting, ceiling tiles, plasters and stuccos, roofing tars, felts, siding, and shingles, siding, countertops, and pipes, acoustical ceilings, fireproofing, putty, caulk, gaskets, vehicle brake pads and shoes, clutch plates, stage fire curtains, fire blankets, interior fire doors, cigarette filters.

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.

But Asbestos is still around today, the ruling left many consumer products that can still legally contain trace amounts of asbestos, further, the law cannot identify existing items, your home or office, if constructed before the 70s may containt Asbestos.

Low levels of asbestos are in the air we breathe and some of the water we drink, including water from natural sources. Studies have shown that members of the general (nonoccupationally exposed) population have tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of asbestos fibers in each gram of dry lung tissue, which translates into millions of fibers and tens of thousands of asbestos bodies in every person’s lungs. The US EPA has proposed a concentration limit of 7 million fibers per liter of drinking water for long fibers (lengths greater than or equal to 5 µm). OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) has set limits of 100,000 fibers with lengths greater than or equal to 5 µm per cubic meter of workplace air for 8-hour shifts and 40-hour work weeks. Most respirable 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. Human hair ranges in size from 17 to 181 µm in width.Fibers ultimately form because when these minerals originally cooled and crystallized, they formed by the polymeric molecules lining up parallel with each other and forming oriented crystal lattices. These crystals thus have three cleavage planes, just as other minerals and gemstones have. But in their case, there are two cleavage planes that are much weaker than the third direction. When sufficient force is applied, they tend to break along their weakest directions, resulting in a linear fragmentation pattern and hence a fibrous form. This fracture process can keep occurring and one larger asbestos fiber can ultimately become the source of hundreds of much thinner and smaller fibers. As asbestos fibers get smaller and lighter, they more easily become airborne and human respiratory exposures can result. Fibers will eventually settle but may be re-suspended by air currents or other movement. 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. Friable materials are of the most initial concern due to their ease of damage. The forces or conditions of usage that come into intimate contact with most non-friable asbestos containing materials are substantially higher than finger pressure. Non-friable asbestos products can release substantial quantities of asbestos fibers into their environments as well.

Asbestos litigation is the longest, most expensive mass tort in U.S. history, involving more than 6,000 defendants and 600,000 claimants. Current trends indicate that the rate at which people are diagnosed with the disease will likely increase through the next decade. Analysts have estimated that the total costs of asbestos litigation in the USA alone will eventually reach $200 billion. 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.

The volume of the asbestos liability has alarmed the manufacturers and insurance industry. The amounts and method of allocating compensation have been the source of many court cases, and government attempts at resolution of existing and future cases.

Many buildings contain asbestos, which was used in spray-applied flame retardant, thermal system insulation, and in a variety of other materials. Asbestos was sometimes “flocked” above false ceilings, inside technical ducts, and in many other small spaces where firefighters would have difficulty gaining access. Structural components like asbestos panels were also used. In residences, asbestos was often a component of a type of flocked acoustic ceiling called “popcorn ceiling”, until its production was banned in the U.S. in 1978. However, the ban allowed installers to use up remaining stocks, so houses built as late as 1986 could still have asbestos in their acoustic ceilings. The only way to be sure is to remove a sample and have it tested by a competent laboratory.

Depending on how and where asbestos was applied, it might not pose any risk to most users of the building. If the fibers cannot become dislodged, they cannot be inhaled, and thus the asbestos poses no risk.

However, some methods of applying asbestos, particularly flocking, allow asbestos fibers to gradually drop off into the air. Asbestos poses hazards to maintenance personnel who have to drill holes in walls for installation of cables or pipes.

Even if the workers are protected, such maintenance operation may release fibers into the air, which may be inhaled by others. Interventions in areas where asbestos is present often have to follow stringent procedures. If removal is to be performed when users are still present in the building, it is usually necessary to relocate some users temporarily. Typically, the part of the building from which asbestos is being removed has to be sealed off in order to prevent contamination of the other areas.

If the building is closed to normal users, it may be necessary to seal it off from outside atmosphere so that no accessible air is contaminated. Examples of asbestos removal enterprises include the Jussieu Campus (begun circa 1996 and still going on as of 2005) and the Tour Montparnasse (in 2005, projected duration was 3 years if the tower was emptied of its users, and 10 years if it was not).

An asbestos-containing building that is to be torn down may have to be sealed, and to have its asbestos safely removed before ordinary demolition can be performed. The asbestos removal may take longer and cost more than the actual demolition. For example, the former seat of parliament of East Germany, the Palast der Republik was stripped of most of its asbestos between 1998 and 2001, before it was finally demolished starting in 2006. The demolition process alone is expected to cost between 20 and 60 million Euros.

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