What are the effects of asbestos?
Bizarrely, asbestos is not generally regarded as harmful unless it is disturbed and becomes inhaled as a dust. Premises where asbestos dust has been allowed to just hang in the air will have been particularly harmful to individuals breathing it in. For employees who regularly breathed in asbestos dust at their workplace, the risk of illness for them was much greater. When asbestos dust is breathed in, asbestos can settle in the lungs where it damages and scars the lung tissue. It is very difficult to remove asbestos from the lungs and it has been associated with diseases such as mesothelioma, lung cancer and asbestosis. The effects of asbestos may not become apparent for many years following exposure to the material.
