What is asbestos?

The name Asbestos comes from the Greek for incombustible. It is not a mineralogical definition, but the generic name given to a group of naturally occurring asbestiform silicate minerals with a fibrous geometry length 3 x width. Once mined, the rocks are crushed and fibrous strands which are strong, flexible, resistant to acid and heat and very durable, are extracted.

There are six different types of Asbestos falling into two different groups.
Serpentine - a sheet or layered structure.
Amphibole - a chain like structure.
All forms of Asbestos are indefinite polymers and immune to rot, corrosion and bacterial attack.

There are 3 main types of asbestos found
in premises

Blue Asbestos (Crocidolite) - from the Amphibole group of minerals. It is a Sodium, Iron and Magnesium Silicate with blue straight fibres. It is hydrophobic with decomposition temperature of 800°c.

Brown Asbestos (Amosite) - from the Amphibole group of minerals, containing Iron and Magnesium with pale brown needle like fibres. It is hydrophobic with a decomposition temperature of 600°c - 900°c.

White Asbestos (Chrysotile) - from the Serpentine group of minerals. It is a Magnesium Silicate with curly flexible white fibres with splayed ends and kinks. It is hydrophilic with a decomposition temperature of 800°c - 850°c

Mesothelioma What is it? And what is
the treatment?

Mesothelioma cancer grows in the lining of the lungs or abdomen and can take years to develop. It can lay dormant between 15-40 years. This type of cancer can develop very quickly; it is roughly about 18 months between diagnosis and death with no known cure. 2,037 people died in 2005 of mesothelioma. The HSE estimates the number of mesothelioma deaths will keep rising and peak to 2,450 deaths per year in 2011-2015. Asbestos causes the largest number of deaths through occupation.

Fluid, which may build in the lungs or abdomen can be removed and the pain controlled by drugs. Surgery may be needed for some cases to remove the growth; however radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy can also be used.

As the latency period (the time between first exposure and death) is between 15 and 60 years many of the people who are dying from asbestos related diseases now where exposed in the 1960s and 1970s. This terrible trend must be stopped now. Asbestosis, pleural plaques, lung cancer and mesothelioma are all caused by exposure to asbestos fibres.