History Of Asbestos

Ancient History

Aasbestos use goes back many years. "Asbestos", which was named by the Greeks, means "inextinguishable". Even during those times, the Greeks knew about the harmful nature of this substance. It has been mentioned both by Greek and as well as Roman philosophers that it was capable of causing a "sickness" in the lungs of those who were into weaving asbestos. However, it is notable, that during the early history of asbestos, in spite of its hazardous nature, it continued to be popular, owing to its useful properties.

Asbestos was first used by the Greeks as wicks, for the eternal flames, as well as kings' garments and as table napkins. Romans too, were known to use asbestos as napkins, which they would throw into the fire, for the purpose of cleaning the napkins.

This history shows that asbestos continued to be preferred by many and its popularity did not begin to decline before the Middle Ages. However, there have been many examples of people using asbestos even then, such as Marco Polo using asbestos cloth items.

The Middle Ages

Asbestos use started to gain popularity again during the 1700's. Its use gained momentum during the later half of the 1800's, during the industrial revolution. This marked as one of the best times in the history of asbestos, as people discovered more and more uses of this material. Unlike the earlier history of asbestos, now asbestos was used as not only domestic purposes, and other such needs, but also for industrial needs. These included the use of asbestos in high temperature generating products, such as boilers, ovens, turbines, ovens etc. The heath risks of this material were completely forgotten, even though the history of asbestos as a health hazard was known.

The Modern Era

Wide-spread asbestos use continued till the beginning of the twentieth century, when researches could no more ignore the large number of deaths of the asbestos workers. It was finally in the year 1924 when the first diagnosis of the disease, now well known as asbestosis, was made. This was the first time in the history of asbestos, when a proper research was carried out, and it was scientifically proved that asbestos was capable of causing lung diseases.

Finally in the history of asbestos, laws were passed to protect people from disease related to asbestos exposure. Soon after, leading medical journals even started publishing articles, proving that cancer and asbestos are related. However, sadly enough, even though it was becoming significantly noticeable that asbestos was hazardous for human health, many of the employees did not pay much heed to save their workers from asbestos related diseases. It was not until employees started bringing lawsuits against them so as to help them protect their rights.

Though asbestos continues to cause major diseases to the workers dealing with it if unprotected, it is still in use for it's fire retardant and insulation properties. In fact, asbestos is used today in more ways than it has ever been used before.