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The Environmental Risks of Asbestos

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For decades, asbestos was used as an integral part of dozens of products including siding for homes and insulation for a wide variety of buildings.  When one studies the history of asbestos use especially as it pertains to asbestos laws in the USA, it is baffling why it took so long for the government to act.  The effect of asbestos on health was already pretty well documented and understood by medical science.  And yet from 1950 until 1985, the laws concerning the use of asbestos were lenient at best. Only when the outbreak of deadly lung illnesses did the government finally take firm action and ban the use of asbestos in almost all products in 1985.

Put in context of how asbestos creates a dangerous health situation, it can be viewed as the most dangerous form of air pollution.  Asbestos is dangerous when it is in solid form encased in environmentally conscious containment such as insulation skins etc.  It is when the raw asbestos is exposed to the air and the fibers of the asbestos are released that a very serious health emergency is created.  It is an emergency that can occur without warning and go undetected.  If there is an environmental leak of asbestos fibers into the air of a public space, everyone will breathe in asbestos fibers, which puts them at risk for asbestos related lung diseases.


Asbestos fibers are so tiny that if they were airborne, you would not be able to detect them in the air you breathe.  They have no smell but when they are released into an area, the chances you will breathe them into your lungs are high.  Once inside your lungs, these tiny fibers take up residence and slowly begin to infect the lungs in all aspects of their operation.  The health problems rarely surface right away.  Instead, those asbestos fibers stay in the lungs slowly deteriorating your health until lung cancer or other serious health problems surface, sometimes decades after the exposure to asbestos occurred.

This is why if a building is discovered that has not been cleared of the presence of asbestos, the EPA and other governmental bodies take a serious interest in such a problem area.  When a building is targeted as a potential health risk, the regulatory issues are complicated because the situation is a serious one.  The presence of the asbestos makes that building a health risk.  But the alternatives of removing the asbestos or destroying the building are even more of a serious environmental threat as the building represents undisturbed.

It might seem like the laws concerning the removal of asbestos are heavy handed.  But experience has tragically proven to use the real dangers that can arise if a building containing asbestos is demolished or the removal not handled by professionals training to work with this highly hazardous material.  Removal of asbestos is even more hazardous than leaving it in place because of the greater potential of rupturing the containment of the asbestos thus spewing asbestos fibers into the air.  

If this kind of environmental emergency were allowed to happen, the asbestos contamination could be carried in the air not only to infect the construction or demolition workers but to pose a threat to the community surrounding the affected site.  So be cautious when scheduling an asbestos removal or even an inspection to assure that utmost care is taken not to turn a bad situation into an environmental nightmare.
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