Environmental or occupational exposure to asbestos

Environmental or occupational exposure to asbestos

The widespread use of asbestos has caused to thousands of workers who do not suspect it, and their families, have been exposed to the toxic mineral. The administration of occupational safety and health administration of the United States of America has expressed that another example in which exposure to toxic minerals, has demonstrated there is being so harmful to humans, as it has been the exposure to asbestos. It estimated that from 1940 to 1970, approx. 27,500,000 individuals were potentially exposed to asbestos. This figure nothing surprising, when you consider that an estimated 1.2 there are one billion square feet of asbestos in the insulation of 190,000 buildings in the United States, and that the number of exposed workers is estimated at 900,000.

Workers are exposed to asbestos in many fields of work and work sites, ranging from construction to mining, manufacturing and consumer industries. According to one author, the asbestos information Association has estimated that there are up to 3,000 different uses for asbestos, which brings as a consequence the exposure to this mineral in the areas of mining and processing, manufactures it primary and secondary products that contain asbestos, construction and repair of boats and construction processes, to name a few.

Harmful exposure to asbestos occurred not only to the workers of the works, but to residents and neighbouring communities to mining and asbestos products manufacturing plants could have been exposed. It is estimated that release out of work from the areas of construction reaching levels 100 times higher than the normal level of asbestos in the environment.

In addition, contamination of homes also occurs when the worker brings home clothing contaminated with toxic ore, exposing this way, without knowing it, the members of his family. In fact, there are those who believe that the most important source of pollution and non-occupational asbestos exposure today, is that of material contaminated in homes, schools and public buildings.