Asbestos - Why is it so Harmful?

Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral found in crystalized fibres. The fibres can be broken down into types (Serpentines and Amphiboles) both of which are carcinogenic when inhaled. The fibres are so small they can get embedded into your alveoli of the lungs causing scarring and tissue damage. The reason your white blood cells cannot destroy the asbestos fibres is the same reason humans thought it was a great building and other types of material. Asbestos is resistant to fire, chemicals, and biological breakdown. Asbestos would be extremely difficult for your white blood cells to breakdown and destroy, as such, the white blood cells die.

Asbestos was considered a great building material due to its tensile strength, insulation capabilities and due to its resistance to fire and chemicals. Once it was known to cause negative impact to human health was when action was taken into place to mitigate its use and proactively start removing such materials.

Asbestos Fibres can cause scarring in the lungs.

These shadows would represent areas that are slowly breaking down and the lungs losing capacity to function properly.

Current studies with respect to negative impacts to human health are related to the inhalation of asbestos fibres. Therefore, it is dangerous to be in an area where the material has crumbled or can crumble in a dry state into powder form (we call this Friable).