| Asbestos is one of the oldest minerals to be found | | | | mineral and requested increased ventilation in |
| on Earth and is history as we know it dates back at | | | | dangerous work places. |
| least 2000 years. The name origin is Greek and | | | | Earlier on the asbestos industry was using close to |
| translated means inextinguishable. While the ancient | | | | 3000 different products that were created through |
| Greeks were aware of the dangers of this mineral, | | | | the world and these were mostly used in |
| they still continued using it because they though it | | | | construction, textile industries and also car |
| had magical properties that outweighed the health | | | | manufacturing. It was easily inhaled through asbestos |
| risks. Early on symptoms of illnesses have been | | | | fibers, or when it was woven in clothes or even |
| noticed at slaves who were wearing clothes | | | | mixed with another binder like calcium silicate to make |
| containing asbestos in them. They were noticing | | | | the older types of vinyl flooring that were so popular |
| 'sickness of the lungs'. | | | | up till around 1975 or so. |
| In the middle ages there were many table clothes | | | | The compound has several strengths which were the |
| during the Charlemagne kingdom created with | | | | main cause of the various industries using it, such as |
| asbestos in them, however this mineral really became | | | | being a very good insulator, and heat resistant as |
| popular again in the 1800s. With the appearance of | | | | well as chemical resistant. There are still many older |
| the Industrial Revolution the uses of asbestos really | | | | homes and industrial buildings that heavily include it |
| peaked during those times. Now it was suddenly used | | | | and they still possess a health risk to the owners, as |
| in boilers, turbines, ovens and insulation for steam | | | | well as to the eventual builders who will be tearing at |
| pipes since it was known to be a very good insulator. | | | | one point these buildings down. |
| The actual deadly toxic effects of it have been really | | | | The most dangers of coming into contact with |
| first investigated in 1917 and 1918 when lots of | | | | asbestos is through inhalation and swallowing the |
| young people working in mines were dying too soon | | | | particles, which can be easily embedded in the |
| and too often. The first official illness caused by | | | | respiratory or digestive system tissues causing lung |
| asbestos was coined 'asbestosis' in 1924. This was | | | | and other types of cancer. The three main types of |
| basically causing lung cancer and people were dying all | | | | illnesses caused by this mineral are: asbestosis, |
| too often from it. In 1931 a new legislation has been | | | | mesothelioma and lung cancer being the most known |
| enacted that recognized the dangers and risks of this | | | | among people in general. |