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| Asbestos
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What
You Should Know
Asbestos is the name
for a fiber-like material that can resist both heat
and corrosion. Asbestos fibers are almost impossible
to destroy. While these properties have been known for
thousands of years, the widespread use of asbestos in
consumer products and construction materials only began
in the last century. It is estimated that asbestos has
been used in over 3,000 products. Many of these products
were in place on Louisiana job sites
Unfortunately, the very things that
made asbestos so valuable to industry make it one of
the most toxic substances known. Our bodies are unable
to destroy the asbestos that we breathe in or swallow.
Once inside the human body, the indestructible asbestos
fibers begin to damage the human tissues in which they
lodge. Slowly, after years of working around asbestos,
the signs and symptoms of asbestos-related diseases
appear.
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began to notice the links between asbestos work and lung
diseases and cancer in the 1920's and 1930's. The companies
manufacturing asbestos products were also aware of the
health effects back then, but never warned their employees
or their customers about the hazards until the numbers
of ill asbestos workers were so great that they could
no longer continue to deny the dangers of asbestos. Since
the 1970's, efforts have been made to ban asbestos from
many consumer products, to remove asbestos from public
buildings, and to regulate exposure levels and work practices
in industries where no substitutes can be found. It is
estimated, however, that due to past exposures alone,
there were as many as 220,000 deaths from asbestos related
causes by the year 2000.
If you worked around asbestos in
the past, there are some important facts you and your
family should know about asbestos-related diseases and,
most importantly, about how to reduce the risk that
these diseases will cause severe disability.
This website attempts to present
those facts to you and to explain the types of medical
screening tests that can detect and diagnose asbestos-related
illness in its early stages. It also outlines your legal
rights in the event that you do develop an asbestos-related
disease.
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