What Is Asbestos?

What is asbestos?

Asbestos is a mineral fiber that has been used in a wide variety of products, including isolates from homes and offices because of their heat resistance and flame retardance such material has.

It has been shown that although asbestos has many qualities useful in the construction of buildings, thousands of people have died from asbestos inhalation. 2030 An estimated 50,000 people die in Spain for asbestos related cancer in Spain as 1,200 people die each year.

Exposure to asbestos has been reflected as the likely cause of a number of deadly diseases such as asbestosis and mesothelioma which is a type of cancer that develops in the chest and abdominal cavities.

Some people are more likely to suffer diseases caused by asbestos exposure, so for example firefighters, miners, plumbers, factory workers, ship builders and construction workers are more susceptible to these diseases because of the had exposure to such material and the nature of their work

The use of asbestos in Spain

Have the characteristics of this material which have been determined and conditioned its widespread use, not in vain because asbestos is a thermal insulator, electric and acoustic, fire resistant to mechanical stress (friction, stress ...) and bases and acids, is soft, flexible and can be fragmented into fibers or filaments longitudinally invisible and odorless, tasteless and insoluble in water and organic fluids.

Massive use of asbestos began with the Industrial Revolution began in the mid eighteenth century, when society was machined to levels never before imagined.

The spectacular growth of the combustion in boilers thousands of massive fires generated as never before. That was how the Industrial Revolution transformed the asbestos curiosity in an essential raw material.

After the Industrial Revolution asbestos use continued to grow, to the point that its features and low cost of extraction made ​​during the first three quarters of twentieth century was used to manufacture more than 3,000 different products.

(Cement, boilers, furnaces, fireproof clothing, machinery, vehicle parts, aircraft, trains and ships, pipes, decks, roof panels, boards, floors, roofs, electric cables, plastics, resins, asphalt, construction elements, boilers, heating systems and air conditioning, soundproofing systems ...) and for almost a hundred different industries.

Asbestos removal

The asbestos must be handled and removed only by specialists. Unfortunately these people who specialize in this type of work are at high risk of contracting the asbestos-related diseases because in the complicated process of removing asbestos are exposed to damaging insulation where this is located. Products containing asbestos can be released to cut, polish or remodel can increase the levels of asbestos fibers in the air and threatening to many people who can inhale and even ingest through food.

Symptoms caused by the inhalation of asbestos particles, as happens with other health problems, they are very difficult to detect. Besides asbestosis and mesothelioma have a long incubation period to the extent that their symptoms do not appear until after 20 or 40 years so that immediate and early detection of the disease is almost impossible.

The desamiantadores, workers in factories and construction and any other person who is exposed to asbestos should be aware of the threat to their health and that of their families may have this item.

Issues and questions

If you or your family has suffered any asbestos-related disease, such as mesothelioma, and want a professional you of your rights, please fill out the questionnaire and experienced personnel provided in the mesothelioma lawyers office, they will contact you . These consultations are free, no obligation involved for you and in no case enter into an attorney-client except as you wish.