What health problem does asbestos cause?
Most of our knowledge of the health effects of asbestos exposure results from studies of workers. Workers in asbestos mines, factories that produced products with asbestos, shipyard workers where asbestos was used as insulating material and in other industrial situations had levels of exposure far greater than a building occupant might experience. Over a prolonged period of time, once asbestos fibers enter the lung, two major types of health problems occur. The lung may react to the fibers by forming fibrous or “scar” tissue around each microscopic fiber, and, over time, this scar tissue may lead to breathing problems. Fibers also may cause changes in the body that may eventually lead to cancerous growth. The major diseases caused by exposure to friable asbestos are asbestosis, lung cancer, and mesothelioma. In all of these diseases, symptoms generally do not typically appear until many years after exposure. • Asbestosis is a disease caused by the gradual formation of scar tissue in th
