What is Asbestos and why is it banned? Hey Engineering Lovers, you've certainly heard that using asbestos is prohibited nowadays , but do you know why? In fact, this prohibition is old, dating back to 1995, in LAW No.
9,055, OF JUNE 1. And in its first article it says that: Art. 1 It is prohibited throughout the national territory: I - the extraction, production, industrialization, use and commercialization of actinolite, amosite (brown asbestos), anthophyllite, crocidolite (blue asbestos) and tremolite, mineral varieties belonging to the amphibole group, as well as products containing these mineral substances; Well, Asbestos or asbestos is a general term used to describe a group of naturally occurring fibrous minerals.
These minerals have some characteristics that make them useful for various industrial applications, such as heat resistance, electrical insulation, and chemical resistance. There are six main types of asbestos, classified into two categories, serpentine and amphibole. Each type has distinct characteristics, both in terms of physical properties and health risks.
Within the Serpentine category we only have Chrysotile known as White asbestos. It is a flexible, white, silky fiber and has been widely used in construction products such as tiles, asbestos cement, and even automobile brakes. In the Amphiboles category we have 5 types of asbestos, amosite, crocidolite, tremolite, actinolite and anthophyllite.
Talking a little about each of them, amosite, or Brown Asbestos, is a hard, brown and rough fiber and was widely used in thermal and acoustic insulation, and in some construction products. Then we have Crocidolite or Blue Asbestos, which is a very fine, blue and highly fragile fiber. It is a less common asbestos, but it is used in products such as asbestos cement and some types of insulation and is considered the most dangerous type of asbestos.
Tremolite is a fiber that can vary from white to green, often found as a contaminant in other minerals. It has no direct commercial applications, but may be present in products such as talc and vermiculite. Actinolite is a fiber that varies from green to brown, with a rough structure, which also does not have specific commercial applications, but may be present in some construction and insulation products.
And finally, Anthophyllite, which is a fiber with a variety of colors, from white to brown and even green. It was rarely used commercially, but it could be found in products used in construction and also in insulation. But let's go back to the beginning, when asbestos was discovered?
The use of asbestos dates back to ancient times. In Ancient Egypt, around 2500 BC, there are records that asbestos was used to embalm mummies. Its fire-resistant properties and the fact that the material did not decompose ended up being highly valued by this culture.
Already in Ancient Greece, around 450 BC, the Greeks used asbestos for wicks of eternal lamps and as material for ceremonial clothing. And the word "asbestos" comes from the Greek "asbestos", which means "inextinguishable". In the Roman Empire, the Romans used asbestos in fabrics to wrap corpses before cremation.
And it was at this time that people began to have an idea of the harmful effects of using asbestos. It was Caio Plínio Segundo, known as Plinio the Elder, was a historian, naturalist and Roman official, and he recorded the first reports of the harmful effects on health among slaves who wove asbestos. During the Middle Ages, the use of asbestos was relatively limited.
However, there are records that Charlemagne had a tablecloth made of asbestos that he used to impress guests by throwing it into the fire to clean it. But it was much later, in the 19th century, that asbestos began to be used on a large scale during the Industrial Revolution. Its insulating and heat-resistant properties make it ideal for a wide range of industrial products, including boiler insulation, building materials, and automotive components.
And at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century, asbestos mining became a large industry, with mines in Russia, Canada, and South Africa, among other places, and with this, mass production of asbestos products began to grow rapidly. Today, although the use of asbestos has been drastically reduced and regulated in many countries, it is still extracted and used in some countries, especially in products where replacement with other materials is economically unfeasible. But what exactly is asbestos, is it a rock, a mineral?
Where is it found in nature? Come on, asbestos is a group of fibrous minerals found in nature. These minerals are silicates, composed mainly of silicon and oxygen, with the inclusion of several other elements.
It is found in natural deposits and is extracted by mining, but it can also be found in metamorphic rocks, which form under high pressures and temperatures. Deposits of these asbestos fibers are found in various parts of the world including Russia, Canada, South Africa, China and Brazil. Asbestos is extracted from open pit or underground mines and the process involves the removal of large quantities of rock, from which the asbestos fibers are separated.
These minerals are found crystallized in long, thin fibers that can be separated into flexible filaments. Although they are all silicates, the specific composition varies between types of asbestos. For example, chrysotile is a hydrated magnesium silicate, while crocidolite is a sodium iron silicate.
And why is it prohibited and what harm does asbestos cause? At the beginning of the 20th century, the first studies appeared that linked exposure to asbestos to lung diseases, such as asbestosis, which occurs when asbestos dust is inhaled. But even with the risks presented, the asbestos industry continued to prosper.
But it was only in the mid-20th century that scientific evidence about the health risks of asbestos became irrefutable. Epidemiological studies have shown a strong link between asbestos exposure and lung cancer, mesothelioma, and other serious illnesses. In the 1970s and 1980s, strict regulations on the use of asbestos began to be implemented in the United States, Europe and other developed countries, and many countries banned the use of asbestos completely.
Asbestos is harmful to health mainly because its microscopic fibers can be inhaled and lodge in the lungs and other body tissues. These fibers are very small and thin, which means they penetrate deep into the respiratory system. Furthermore, as they are resistant to decomposition, this means that they remain in the body for many years without disintegrating.
Okay, but how does it act on the human body? Asbestos fibers, when inhaled, cause persistent inflammation in the lungs and other tissues. These chronic inflammations and the continued presence of asbestos fibers can lead to genetic mutations resulting in cancer or the inflammatory response can lead to scarring and thickening of lung tissue, impairing respiratory function.
If you are a little older, you may remember the asbestos tiles and water tanks that were used in our homes. Today they are prohibited precisely because of the risks they cause to our health. Many people had serious respiratory problems from sawing asbestos tiles during their installation and I have unfortunately seen this happen.
To help you understand the proportion of asbestos, the São Paulo aircraft carrier was recently sold for 10 million reais to a company in Turkey. There, it would be dismantled and recycled, just like the fate of many vessels. However, the Turkish government became aware of the existence of asbestos used in the structure of the ship, and simply banned the ship from arriving in Turkey.
After much discussion, the ship returned to Brazil and the navy ended up sinking it 350 kilometers off the coast of Pernambuco. So you can see that everything that contains asbestos can end up being rejected by countries, and even sinking the ship and hiding the problem at sea, ends up being a risk for the ecosystem and even for the sea currents that can carry the asbestos away. If you made it this far and liked the video, Take the opportunity to subscribe if you are not subscribed, leave your like, and activate the notification bell and if you find our content interesting, consider becoming a member to help us continue producing content here on the platform and be remembered in our videos.
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