Asbestos.
Asbestos was used in construction, predominantly for fireproofing, but has been made illegal in many countries around the world, because around 255,000 people are thought to die each year from diseases related to asbestos exposure. In part, this is because many older buildings still contain some asbestos; in addition, the consequences of exposure can take decades to arise. The latency period (from exposure until the diagnosis of negative health effects) is typically 20 years). The most common diseases associated with chronic asbestos exposure are asbestosis (scarring of the lungs due to asbestos inhalation) and mesothelioma (a type of cancer)
The word "asbestos", which was first used in the 1600s, ultimately derives from the Ancient Greek: ἄσβεστος, meaning "unquenchable" or "inextinguishable" The name reflects use of the substance for wicks that would never burn up. It was adopted into English via the Old French 'abestos', which came from Greek via Latin.
Asbestos has been used for thousands of years to create flexible objects that resist fire, including napkins, but in the more modern era, companies began producing consumer goods containing asbestos on an industrial scale. Today, the risk of asbestos has been recognized and the use of asbestos is completely banned in 66 countries, and strictly regulated in many others.
Asbestos use dates back at least 4,500 years, when the inhabitants of the Lake Juojärvi region in East Finland used asbestos to strengthen earthenware pots and cooking utensils. Archaeologists call this style of pottery "asbestos-ceramic". Some archaeologists believe that ancient peoples made shrouds of asbestos, wherein they burned the bodies of their kings to preserve only their ashes and to prevent the ashes being mixed with those of wood or other combustible materials commonly used in funeral pyres Others assert that these people used asbestos to make perpetual wicks for lamps. A famous example is the golden lamp asbestos lychnis, which the sculptor Callimachus made for the Erechtheion In more recent centuries, asbestos was indeed used for this purpose.
More recent times
The use of asbestos became increasingly widespread towards the end of the 19th century when its diverse applications included fire-retardant coatings, concrete, bricks, pipes and fireplace cement, heat, fire, and acid-resistant gaskets, pipe insulation, ceiling insulation.
Vinyl floor tiles containing Asbestos became popular through the 1940s, 50's & 60's; with Mark Eting this time tatgeting 'smart' women, simply to again encouragemore more sales for the manufacturer
(See short vid below)
Boiler houses were often lined with Asbestos sheeting, again for fireproofing.
Boiler houses were often lined with flat sheets of Asbestos, again for fireproofing, garage and sometimes extension roofs were clad in corrugated asbestos sheets which can easily be mistaken for 'cement fibre' roof sheets.
In 2011, it was reported that over 50% of UK houses still contained some asbestos, despite a ban on a lot of asbestos based products in preceeding years.
Artex was another very commonly used product that contained asbestos throughout the 1980s and early 1990's in new builds, and also in period restorations and barn conversions.
The 80's were a time of stippled, combed, broken leather, 'knifed plaster' (a pattern created to mimmick an old plaster finish) and broken leather 'laced' Artex patterns. Normally finished in white emulsioned ceilings, Magnolia painted walls and white woodwork.
Although Artex and “Artex-style” coatings are still manufactured in the UK, they do not now contain asbestos. In fact, the importation and use of asbestos in the UK was finally banned completely in late 1999.
In older buildings asbestos sheeting was often used in understairs cupboards as a fire-proof ceiling board, and a lot of plumbing pipework was wrapped using rolls of pipe lagging contaning asbestos, some timber framed 1930's buildings used asbestos sheeting on internal walls, in the same way that today we use 'plasterboard' because the asbestos sheeting would help to prevent any flame spread to the frame itself in the event of a house fire, but once painted it's not an easy one for the untrained eye to spot.
Asbestos test kits -
Click on the image below.
Further information and free downloads.
Hollywood is nothing more than a very dark world of fiction and falsehoods run by some very dark, sick and deceptive people - if you discover Asbestos in your home you really don't need to start worrying that your house will be surrounded by hundreds of 'squad cars' with flashing lights everywhere while teams of 'special people' dressed in Hazmat suits walk through polythene tunnels being watched over by a dozen police 'choppers' circling above. Most local council recycling tips will take Asbestos provided it's bagged up seperately - in fact most have dedicated bins for Asbestos; so you can remove it (carefully), bag it up, pop it in the boot of the family car, and drive to the tip with it. Then transfer it into the dedicated bin.
So it really isn't the big Horror Story that hollywood likes to portray (But then, what really ever is?)
the Health and Safety Executive produce a lot of free advice sheets,
Just click on the image below:
