You probably know that asbestos is a naturally found substance and that it is harmful to your health & well-being, yet there is a lot you won’t know about this fibrous material; here are a few things most people don’t know about asbestos.
- Asbestos kills more people than skin cancer – The reason why people use asbestos removal in Perth is that this material is responsible for more deaths than skin cancer. It is estimated that asbestos related fatalities are above 40,000 globally; it might seem harmless enough, an old sheet of roofing or partition, but when disturbed, Asbestos products split and tiny slivers of fibrous material are released into the atmosphere and should a person inhale these slivers, which are too small to see with the naked eye, they can lodge in the lungs and may remain dormant for years, then without warning, the person starts to have breathing issues.
- Asbestos testing – We all know there are companies that are approved to remove asbestos, the same companies can also test for the presence of this harmful material. If you have an older property and you are about to renovate, it is wise to call in an asbestos removal firm to test for the presence of asbestos.
- Asbestos is mined – Russia is the largest producer of asbestos, while several other countries export the material. It is banned in Australia and most developed countries, yet a century ago, asbestos was extensively used due to its heat resistant properties.
- Asbestos products are everywhere – Anything made pre 1980 could contain asbestos; commercial roofing, wall partitions and many types of compressed board. We simply didn’t know about the harmful effects of asbestos, which was cheap, readily available and excellent fire protection.
- There are no symptoms – This is the scary thing about asbestos; you could renovate your kitchen and a few years later, you start to get bronchial inflammation and that can lead to a range of cancers. In the Industrial Revolution, asbestos factory workers were dying in droves and this led to the discovery that the material was causing lung disease.
Here in Australia, there are still properties that contain asbestos, indeed, there is an established asbestos removal industry that is dedicated to the safe removal of this fibrous material and one day, a few years from now, the last structure containing asbestos will be found and we can enjoy a future without the contamination of asbestos.