Products Containing Asbestos

Widespread use of a dangerous material

Asbestos is a versatile material. It is strong, resistant to fire, flexible, and a good thermal insulator. People have used asbestos for over a thousand years, but its use really picked up after the Industrial Revolution, when asbestos products began to be manufactured and employed by businesses and individuals in factories, construction materials, ships, cars, schools, and homes.

About 5,000 products contain asbestos. So there are many opportunities for exposure and the risk it carries for asbestosis, lung cancer, and mesothelioma.

Asbestos products in the workplace

The highest mesothelioma risk factors are associated with the use and manipulation of asbestos-containing products. These industries used large volumes of asbestos products, resulting in heavy exposure of workers.

• Shipbuilding and the Navy. Ships, especially those built during World War II, were fireproofed throughout using asbestos products. Asbestos was used to insulate pipes, line boilers, and cover equipment and turbine parts.
• Automotive repair. The automotive industry used asbestos in brake pads, clutch assemblies, and gaskets. When these wore and required replacements, auto mechanics would grind them down, creating heavy concentrations of asbestos-laden dust in brake shops and other repair facilities.
• Construction trades. Asbestos was used in all kinds of building products because it is strong, resilient, flexible, and fire resistant. It has also had the advantage of being inexpensive and readily available. Asbestos building materials included roofing, insulation, and tiles. There was also a lot of asbestos in cement compounds, and asbestos could even be found in duct tape.
• Factories. Many factories manufactured products containing asbestos (including those mentioned above).  Asbestos was also used  for insulation and fire proofing of manufacturing facilities.

Household asbestos products

Asbestos products were used in many homes, especially those that were built in the middle of the 20th century. Popular household building materials, appliances, and consumer items often contained asbestos, including:

• Roofing and siding shingles made of asbestos cement
• Asbestos insulation of attics, walls, appliances, and pipes
• Textured paint
• Asbestos in duct tape
• Wall and ceiling patching compounds
• Artificial ashes and embers used in gas-fired fireplaces
• Stove-top pads
• Floor tiles, sheeting, and adhesives
• Asbestos paper, millboard, or cement sheets protecting walls and floors around wood-burning stoves
• Hot water and steam pipes coated with an asbestos material or covered with an asbestos blanket or tape
• Oil and coal furnaces and door gaskets

Disposal of asbestos products

Sometimes remodeling or intentional removal of asbestos products can present more danger than leaving them in place. When they are ground, cut, sawed, hammered, or otherwise disturbed, they may release significant asbestos fibers into the air.