Asbestos: History of Health Concerns

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Long before the 20th Even a century dawned, countless stories that come from Greece and Rome were recorded mysterious "respiratory" illness that afflicted slaves who had been assigned the task of weaving asbestos cloth. In the late 1890s, the suspicious death of about 50 workers to asbestos in France asked what would be known as the first study that delved into the possible health risks from asbestos. The findings, however, found that workers died of pneumoconiosis known as general chalicosis. The fact that these workers were heavily exposed to the combination of asbestos and cotton dust can not be denied, however.

Long before the 20th Even a century dawned, countless stories that come from Greece and Rome were recorded mysterious "respiratory" illness that afflicted slaves who had been assigned the task of weaving asbestos cloth. In the late 1890s, the suspicious death of about 50 workers to asbestos in France asked what would be known as the first study that delved into the possible health risks from asbestos. The findings, however, found that workers died of pneumoconiosis known as general chalicosis. The fact that these workers were heavily exposed to the combination of asbestos and cotton dust can not be denied, however.

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Dr. Cooke findings were then followed by a national investigation of health around 360 hard-working British asbestos textile workers. It was discovered that about a quarter of these workers suffer from pulmonary fibrosis. The results of this research result in the improvement of regulations on the manufacture of asbestos products, as a result of the implementation of hygiene standards in the factories, and institutions necessary medical examination at work mjestu.Azbest industry also came to be included in the British Workers Compensation Act. That no land investigation came to be known as the Merewether report.

In the U.S., the use of asbestos is also very vulnerable to a lot of controversies involving hundreds of millions of dollars are exchanged between companies and workers. In the early 1930s, Metropolitan Life Insurance has shown that about 29% of workers at Johns-Manville plant suffering from azbestoze.Tužbe that followed were settled out suda.Nekoliko years later, a group of asbestos companies agreed to sponsor research that will look in the hazardous effects of asbestos exposure on human health. These same companies, however, insisted that they have complete control over the publication of research results.

It was not until 1980 that modern regulations on the use of asbestos dana.Azbest Ban saw the light and to abolish a rule issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1989. Two years later, however, this decision is overturned in the case of Corrosion Proof Fittings vs. EPA. To this day, traces of asbestos can still be found in the legal number of products on tržištu.EPA the concentration limit of extinguish 7M fibers / L drinking water for fibers with length> = 5 um.Zaštiti Work Administration (OSHA) sets lower and strictly limited to 100,000 fibers / m3 in the workplace in force for 8 hour shifts within 40 hours / week schedule. Other countries, such as New Zealand and Australia followed suit issuing import ban of asbestos in 1984 and 1991, respectively.

Controversy will always surround the use of asbestos. It is up to individual countries to make sure that an effective regulatory laws are in place to keep under control the extent of its use and ensure the safety of workers.