Asbestos in Your Home?

Asbestos: (August 2015)

The Harms of Asbestos Exposure:

• There is no assigned safe level of exposure to asbestos fibers.  In other words, no exposure is too little.
• Utmost safety precautions must be observed when working with asbestos or during asbestos removal, otherwise you risk asbestos exposure for yourself and your family to long-term often times, irreversible detrimental health risks.
• If asbestos, especially friable asbestos is disturbed, it can release dangerous minute particles into the air.
• Airborne asbestos particles can be so small and may not be easily be seen by the unaided eye.  Never assume that friable asbestos will not be airborne once disturbed.
• Asbestos exposure by inhalation from friable asbestos fibers can cause mesothelioma asbestosis, and lung cancer.
• Mesothelioma is a cancer which most often afflicts the lining of the lungs. There is no known cure for mesothelioma.
• The rates, incidences of the incurable cancer malignant mesothelioma are expected to rise from 2012 to 2020.
• The risk of contracting asbestos-related diseases increase with the number of fibers inhaled by the length of time that you inhaled asbestos fibers (number of years of asbestos exposure).
• Smoking greatly increases the risk of lung cancer coupled with asbestos exposure.
• Diseases from asbestos exposure do not usually exhibit symptoms until after 20 to 30 years after asbestos exposure.
• Mesothelioma symptoms exhibit after an average time of 45 years after asbestos exposure

  Commercial Product Asbestos Exposure

  Personnel who have used end products made from or made with asbestos are at risk of asbestos exposure, from heat resistant gloves, to fire retarding clothing, the use of these commercial products have exposed personnel in different industries to the long-term adverse effects of asbestos exposure.
  Aside from those who worked in the construction industry, DIY enthusiasts who worked with popular building and construction products are also at risk of asbestos exposure. Many commercially available products through the late 1970’s were made with asbestos, including those that are commonly used for home repair and construction such as insulation, roofing materials, siding, tiles, joint compound and flooring. These products when cut, sanded or filed release asbestos fibers into the air.
  

  Second Hand Asbestos Exposure

  Second hand asbestos exposure are those people who were not directly exposed to asbestos.  These include family members who live with personnel who have worked in the mines, establishments and installations that use asbestos on a regular basis, whatever industry they may have been in. When workers from these establishments and installations return home after a day of work, they bring home with them, unbeknownst to them, the dangerous asbestos fibers sticking in their hair, hands, skin and in their clothes.  Simple and innocent interactions with asbestos workers like hugging, kissing and holding hands exposes the family members to asbestos.  Even sharing a laundry load with the work clothes of the asbestos workers and wearing these clothes afterwards exposes the family members to asbestos.  Remember, asbestos does not dissolve in water, though some may be remove during laundry, the ability of the asbestos fibers to cling to fabric and their insolubility in water makes them difficult to be removed from clothing.  Some of these fibers that cling to clothing eventually becomes airborne, and that’s when the danger starts
  1-out-of 3 Australian houses are built using asbestos.  With older houses built before 1970, asbestos exposure becomes a risk when home renovations are carried out.  Asbestos exposure is prevalent with renovations carried out in the fibro sheeting widely used in the construction of the homes.  Research results from the Medical Journal of Australia reported that a survey conducted in 2008 out of 1597 participants who renovated their homes DIY, 527 reported asbestos exposure during the renovation.  337 (39.3%) reported that their partner was subject to asbestos exposure during the renovation.  196 (22.8%) reported that their children were subject to asbestos exposure.  From the survey, 20% reported that they will carry out renovations in the next 5 years.
  Asbestos exposure due to DIY home renovation is real, but nonetheless, manageable.  The safest approach to conduct home renovations is to assume that asbestos was used during the construction.
  Employing a professional removalist or occupational hygienist is the best approach to manage asbestos exposure when planning a home renovation.
• How to Avoid Asbestos Exposure
• The best way to avoid asbestos exposure is to not handle it and stay away from it.  You should not, in anyway, handle any removal of already installed asbestos or asbestos containing materials by yourself.
  Asbestos Exposure becomes viable only when friable asbestos becomes airborne due to damage or due to wear and tear, they may also become airborne during the course of repair.  The use of asbestos has been banned since 2003 and is no longer allowed to be used in new constructions or building repairs.
  Asbestos Exposure nowadays is limited to industrial, marine (ships and shipyards) and residential and commercial building occupants where asbestos was used during construction.
  There are laws in Canada that deal with the disposal of asbestos and asbestos-containing materials.  They should in no way be disposed of in the trash to avoid asbestos exposure. (Reproduced with permission by Aware Marketing)