Asbestos: A Potential Time Bomb

Asbestos is a mineral that has very special refractory properties and is also very light. These features have made it the material of choice for a large variety of industrial applications.

Many people have suffered severely disabling diseases and death as a result of industrial exposure to the material, and it is no longer used by industry. The material is fibrous in nature and these if these fibres are inhaled as dust they become lodged in the fine structure of the lung. They may remain there for a great many years without doing any damage, but there is a serious risk that eventually they will inflict serious damage to the lung tissue. This can cause a number of respiratory problems, including lethal cancers.

The most dangerous disease is mesothelioma. This is an invariably fatal condition, though bronchial cancer, the other cancer caused by asbestos, is nearly always fatal.

Sometimes the associated non-fatal respiratory conditions of asbestosis and pleural thickening can themselves develop into cancer subsequently.

The use of asbestos as an industrial material really took off during the industrial revolution, and although it was not long before it was noticed that people who worked with the material tended to suffer even worse health than other industrial workers, such were the condition then that this fact was essentially ignored. Improved health regulations were invoked in nineteen thirty following a public health investigation of health problems associated with the material.

The industry fought an ongoing battle, claiming that the dangers were overplayed. Some asbestos compensation claims were settled, but with severe restrictions. The industry attempted to hide the real facts concerning the dangers of asbestos exposure.

Eventually the health and safety lobby won the day. In modern times strict laws control the use of asbestos.

Given that sometimes forty years can elapse between exposure and onset of mesothelioma and other related diseases, it is something of a time bomb situation. Although this adds a layer of complexity to anyone who has worked in various industrial settings where asbestos has been used making an asbestos claim for compensation there is legislation in place that deals with asbestos compensation.