What disease is asbestos?

Asbestos diseases are caused by exposure to asbestos fibers. Malignant asbestos diseases include mesothelioma, lung cancer, ovarian cancer and laryngeal cancer. Nonmalignant asbestos diseases include asbestosis, COPD, pleural plaques, pleural thickening, pleural effusion and atelectasis.

What causes asbestos in houses?

CEMENT SHEET, MILLBOARD, and PAPER used as insulation around furnaces and woodburning stoves. Repairing or removing appliances may release asbestos fibers. So may cutting, tearing, sanding, drilling, or sawing insulation. DOOR GASKETS in furnaces, wood stoves, and coal stoves.

What products contain asbestos?

Those products include home construction products, insulation, flooring materials, friction products like brake and clutch linings, and textile products. For the most part, products that contain asbestos today use a type of asbestos called chrysotile , which is considered far less dangerous than the old amphibole type.

What is asbestos and why is it dangerous?

The danger of being exposed to asbestos is that the fibers get lodged in tissues in the body and stay there for a long time. This ultimately can lead to damage, inflammation, and possibly a serious health condition, usually decades after repeated exposure.

What happens if you are exposed to asbestos?

People exposed to large amounts of asbestos fibres over a long period of time have a significant risk of developing lung cancer. The risk is many times greater in people who also smoke. The tumour, if not treated early, spreads through the lung and eventually to other parts of the body.