Short answers, pulled from the story.
Archaeologists have uncovered evidence of asbestos use stretching back 4,500 years to the Lake Juojärvi region in East Finland. Inhabitants there mixed the mineral anthophyllite into earthenware pots and cooking utensils to strengthen them against fire.
Large-scale mining operations began in Thetford township Quebec in 1878 when Sir William Edmond Logan noticed massive chrysotile deposits. Andrew Stuart Johnson and William Henry Jeffrey established the asbestos industry in the province following the opening of the Quebec Central Railway in 1876.
The first documented death related to asbestos occurred in 1906 though negative health effects had been noted earlier. Nellie Kershaw employed at Turner Brothers Asbestos in Rochdale died in 1924 leading to a formal inquest that confirmed particles originating from asbestos caused extensive fibrosis in her lungs.
Worldwide 66 countries and territories including all those in the European Union have banned the use of asbestos. Canada made it illegal to import manufacture sell trade or use products made from asbestos by the 31st of December 2018.
Six mineral types are defined as asbestos including those belonging to the serpentine class and those belonging to the amphibole class. Chrysotile accounts for about 95% of the asbestos found in buildings in America according to the US Environmental Protection Agency.