What is Asbestos?
Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral, divided into two mineralogical groups. Some varieties of asbestos are used commercially.
The first group, the amphibole family, includes crocidilite (“blue asbestos”), amosite (“brown asbestos”), tremolite, anthophyllite and actinolite. Among the various types of amphibole fibers, only crocidilite and amosite were used in commercial products. However, the “noncommercial” amphibole fibers (tremolite, anthophyllite and actinolite) may be present as contaminants in commercial products that use chrysotile asbestos, vermiculite and talc.
The serpentine group, the other mineralogical group of asbestos, includes the chrysotile variety of asbestos. Despite its hazardous properties, chrysotile was very popular with industry. It accounts for over 90% of the commercial asbestos used in the United States.
Source: PATHOLOGY OF ASBESTOS-RELATED DISEASES (Victor L. Roggli et al. eds., 2004).
Asbestos: A Historical Overview
The term “asbestos” comes from a Greek word meaning “unquenchable” or “indestructible.” The term asbestos refers to a group of mineral fibers that share properties of heat and chemical resistance, flexibility and high tensile strength. Because of these properties, asbestos was at one time popularly known as the “magic mineral”; it has been used in over 3,000 different household or commercial products.
While asbestos has been used in a wide variety of products during the Industrial Revolution (and continues to be used in products today), modern industry was not the first to use this hazardous mineral. Asbestos use hails back to at least 2500 B.C., when it was used in making Finnish pottery. Another early account of asbestos use was in the wick of a golden lamp crafted for the goddess Athena in the fourth to fifth centuries B.C. During this same period, asbestos cloth was used to hold the ashes of the dead during cremation. Pliny has also described the use of asbestos cloth as a funeral dress for kings. Emperor Charlemagne reportedly displayed a tablecloth made from asbestos that was used during great feasts. After the feast, the cloth and its contents would be thrown into a fire, and the cloth would be removed without damage to the amazement of the guests. In the year 1250, Marco Polo reported an asbestos cloth in the northern provinces of the Great Khan that had the property of being unconsumed and refined by fire.
Industrial uses of asbestos began on a limited scale around 1720, soon after the discovery of relatively large deposits of asbestos in the Ural Mountains in western Russia. The discovery of these deposits led to factories that manufactured asbestos products. Such products included handbags, gloves, stockings, and textiles. In the years that followed, discoveries of different types of asbestos were made on several continents, setting the stage for the mineral’s many uses.
Chrysotile asbestos was discovered in 1860 in Quebec, Canada. The mining of chrysotile deposits began in 1878, with 50 tons produced during the mine’s first year of operation. Crocidilite asbestos was discovered in South Africa in the year 1815, with the mining of large quantities of South African fibers beginning in about 1910. Amosite asbestos was discovered in the central Transvaal region in 1907, with mining operations beginning there around 1916. The beginning of such mining operations, together with the inception of the Industrial Revolution, set the stage for the widespread use of asbestos, leading to a public health crisis still affecting society today.
Source: PATHOLOGY OF ASBESTOS-RELATED DISEASES (Victor L. Roggli et al. eds., 2004)
