Asbestos

• 1. Ancient Origins And Early Uses

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  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. This style of pottery is now known as asbestos-ceramic. Ancient peoples also crafted shrouds from asbestos fibers to wrap royal bodies for funeral pyres. Burning these shrouds preserved only the ashes of the deceased while preventing their remains from mixing with wood or other combustible materials used on the pyre. The Greek word amiantos meant undefiled because the fiber emerged unmarked after being thrown into a fire. Pliny the Elder described the material as more expensive than pearls in his first-century manuscript Natural History. He called it asbestinon meaning unquenchable though he likely misapplied the term originally intended for quicklime. A famous example involved a golden lamp lychnis created by the sculptor Callimachus for the Erechtheion temple. Wealthy Persians amazed guests by cleaning cloth napkins simply by throwing them into fire. One such item belonged to Khosrow II Parviz who reigned between 590 and 628 AD. Marco Polo recounted seeing a vein in Ghinghin talas that produced cloth which could not be burnt if thrown into fire.

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• 2. Industrial Expansion And Mining History

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  Large-scale mining operations began in Thetford township Quebec in 1878 when Sir William Edmond Logan noticed massive chrysotile deposits. By 1895 the industry had become increasingly mechanized with output rising from 50 tons in 1878 to over 10,000 tonnes in the 1890s. 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 Jeffrey Mine in Asbestos Quebec became the world's largest mine for many years. Industrial production also started in the Urals of the Russian Empire during the 1880s. Mining took off in South Africa from 1893 under British businessman Francis Oates director of De Beers company. Amosite production began there in 1910. The United States saw an early start in 1858 when fibrous anthophyllite was mined at Ward's Hill on Staten Island by the Johns Company. US production began in earnest in 1899 after large deposits were discovered on Belvidere Mountain in Vermont. Canadian samples displayed in London in 1862 elicited much interest leading to companies forming in England and Scotland. German industrialist Louis Wertheim adopted the process of making yarn from asbestos in his factories.

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• 3. Discovery Of Toxicity And Medical Impact

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  The first documented death related to asbestos occurred in 1906 though negative health effects had been noted earlier. In 1898 Lucy Deane Streatfeild a factory inspector in the United Kingdom reported these dangers in her Annual Report. H. Montague Murray noted similar issues in 1899. Researchers noticed a large number of early deaths and lung problems in mining towns during the early 1900s. A postmortem investigation conducted by Murray at Charing Cross Hospital in London found asbestos traces in the lungs of a young man who died from pulmonary fibrosis after working for 14 years in an asbestos textile factory. Nellie Kershaw employed at Turner Brothers Asbestos in Rochdale died in 1924 leading to a formal inquest. Pathologist William Edmund Cooke testified that particles originating from asbestos caused extensive fibrosis in her lungs. Parliament commissioned an inquiry into asbestos dust effects which resulted in a report presented on the 24th of March 1930. The study concluded that 66% of workers employed for 20 years or more suffered from asbestosis. The term mesothelioma was first used in medical literature in 1931 with its association to asbestos noted sometime in the 1940s. Approximately 100,000 people in the United States have died or are terminally ill from shipbuilding-related exposure.

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• 4. Global Regulation And Legal Bans

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  Worldwide 66 countries and territories including all those in the European Union have banned the use of asbestos. Australia banned crocidolite blue asbestos in 1967 while amosite brown asbestos continued until the mid-1980s. It was finally banned from building products in 1989 though it remained in gaskets and brake linings until the 31st of December 2003. Canada made it illegal to import manufacture sell trade or use products made from asbestos by the 31st of December 2018. Japan implemented a near-complete ban in 2006 with remaining exceptions removed in March 2012. New Zealand announced a complete ban on importation in 2015 with very limited exceptions. South Korea enacted a full-fledged ban on all types of asbestos in January 2009. In the United Kingdom blue and brown asbestos materials were banned outright in 1985 while white asbestos import sale and secondhand reuse were outlawed in 1999. The United States Environmental Protection Agency issued an Asbestos Ban and Phase-Out Rule in 1989 but industry supporters overturned it in 1991 through the Corrosion Proof Fittings v. Environmental Protection Agency lawsuit. Russia remains one of the largest producers despite global restrictions.

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• 5. Mineral Classification And Industrial Applications

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  Six mineral types are defined as asbestos including those belonging to the serpentine class and those belonging to the amphibole class. Chrysotile is the only asbestos serpentine fiber appearing under a microscope as a white fiber. It accounts for about 95% of the asbestos found in buildings in America according to the US Environmental Protection Agency. Amphibole fibers are needle-like and include amosite brown asbestos crocidolite blue asbestos tremolite anthophyllite and actinolite. Amosite is commonly used as a fire retardant in thermal insulation products and ceiling tiles. Crocidolite occurs primarily in southern Africa but also in Australia and Bolivia. Tremolite asbestos constituted a contaminant of many naturally occurring chrysotile deposits. Chrysotile has been used more than any other type and was most common in the United States. Common applications included corrugated asbestos cement roofing for outbuildings warehouses and garages. Other items made containing chrysotile included brake linings pipe insulation floor tiles residential shingles and gaskets for high-temperature equipment. Asbestos insulating board AIB and ceiling tiles were widely used before bans took effect. Vermiculite contaminated with asbestos from the Libby mine in Montana exposed workers and community residents to danger.

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• 6. Modern Production And Developing Nations

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  In 2017 1.3 million tonnes of asbestos were mined worldwide with Russia producing 53% of the total. Kazakhstan followed with 16% China with 15% and Brazil with 11.5%. Asia consumes some 70% of the world's production with China India and Indonesia being the largest consumers. Canada halted operations at its remaining two mines in late 2011 after 130 years of activity. The Quebec government stopped mining entirely in September 2012. Some countries like India Indonesia China and Russia continue widespread use of asbestos. Millions of homes factories schools and shelters still utilize asbestos-cement sheets for roofing and sidewalls. Vietnam is one of the top 10 users importing about 65,000 to 70,000 tons annually. About 90% of imported asbestos there produces approximately 100 million square meters of cement roofing sheets. In Mexico over 2,000 companies produce products including roofing boilers pipes brakes and wires. Asbestos continues to be a problem in Australia where two out of three homes built between World War II and the early 1980s still contain it.

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