Asbestos use dates back all the way back to prehistoric times in which asbestos was coveted for its durability, heat resistance and fibrous nature. Its use in modern industrial use began around the early 19th century, circa 1880. With the invention of the machine, the use of asbestos would begin to grow exponentially. By 1976, production had peaked to over 5 million tons, and was used in virtually every industry and in a number of products.
In 1973, when U.S. consumption of asbestos was at its peak, the major markets included asbestos cement pipe (24%), flooring (22%), roofing (9%), friction products such as automobile brakes and clutches (8%), and packing and gaskets (3%). Asbestos has been used in roofing, thermal and electrical insulation, cement pipe and sheets, flooring, gaskets, friction materials, coatings, plastics, textiles, paper, and other products. In the late 1980′s asbestos production began to cease as more and more people learned about the dangers of asbestos.
The four commercially important forms of asbestos have been chrysotile, amosite, anthophyllite, and crocidolite. Chrysotile, amosite, and particularly crocidolite all have extremely high tensile strengths and are used extensively as reinforcers in cements, resins, and plastics. Although chrysotile is most adaptable to industrial use, crocidolite and amosite are particularly useful in combination with chrysotile for adding specific properties, such as rigidity (OSHA 1986). By the 1990s, chrysotile accounted for more than 99% of U.S. asbestos consumption and was the only type of asbestos used in the United States in 2002.
However, in 2002, U.S. consumption of asbestos was distributed as follows: roofing products (50%), coatings and compounds (32%), gaskets (8%), friction products (4%), and electrical and thermal insulation (4%). Ninety-one percent of the chrysotile used in 2002 was categorized as grade 7 asbestos (with fiber lengths less than 3 μm), followed by grades 4, 5, 6, and 3. In the U.S., the US Consumer Product Safety Commission banned use of asbestos in general-use garments only while within the Europe a prohibition of asbestos decree was passed down, adopted and strictly enforced beginning in 2005.
The World Health Organization became active in reporting against the use of asbestos, especially in developing countries across the globe, whose use of asbestos and asbestos production continues to this day. According to the World Health Organization approximately 125 million people are still exposed to asbestos in the workplace, and at least 90,000 people worldwide die each year from asbestos-related diseases alone, including lung cancer, mesothelioma, and asbestosis from occupational exposure today, and this estimate may even be low. In 2003, the Thirteenth Session of the Joint ILO/WHO Committee on Occupational Health and Safety recommended that special attention be paid to the elimination of asbestos-related disease. In 2005, World Health Assembly Resolution 58.22 on cancer prevention and control urged Member States to pay attention to the cancers, in which exposure was avoidable. The organization has taken a serious stance against the use of asbestos, specifically because of its carcinogenic nature. They acknowledge that worldwide people are continuing to be exposed to asbestos both in the workplace and also through contaminated food, and high levels of asbestos have also been found within the drinking water in countries such as Taiwan, Bangladesh, West Bengal (India), northern Chile, and Cordoba Province (Argentina), just to name a few. (www.thelancet.com/oncology, WHO, Vol 10, May 2009).
