The term "asbestos" refers to six fibrous minerals that have been commercially exploited and occur naturally in the environment. The U.S. Bureau of Mines has named more than 100 mineral fibers as "asbestos-like" fibers, yet only six are recognized regulated by the U.S. government. This is largely due to influential lobbying by the asbestos and stone industries, which powerfully shaped how the public perceives asbestiform minerals.

Asbestos is the generic name for six naturally occurring minerals that have been used in commercial products for their strength, flexibility, low electrical conductivity, and resistance to heat and chemicals. It is composed of silicon, oxygen, hydrogen, and various metals.

Asbestos can be divided into two basic groups, serpentine and amphibole, which differ in their physical characteristics. Serpentine asbestos develops in a layered or tiered form, whereas amphibole asbestos has a chain–like structure.

Crocidolite asbestos is a form of asbestos known to cause mesothelioma. Crocidolite asbestos is an amphibole. Its structure is similar to that of chrysotile in that it occurs as finely textured hair-like fibers that occur in naturally formed bundles. Crocidolite fibers are somewhat brittle but are flexible enough usually to bend beyond 90 degrees before breaking. These fibers are commonly curved, but straight fibers and bundles are also found. In crocidolite iron is the predominant mineral over magnesium and aluminum.

Chrysotile asbestos is a type of asbestos known to cause mesothelioma. It is found in serpentine rock and is sometimes called serpentine. Chrysotile asbestos, or serpentine, is a polymorphous, magnesium-rich mineral that is typically found in metamorphic rocks. It can be non-fibrous or fibrous. In its non-fibrous state it is known as lizardite and antigorite, and in its fibrous state it is called chrysotile. Chrysotile fibers may be found in several forms that result from sheetlike crystals that have curled into tightly rolled tubes.

Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral that is found throughout 2/3 of the earth's crust. The fibers are stirred up by erosion and carried by the wind. Residents of the area therefore can be exposed to asbestos fibers. Asbestos is also found in ground water near asbestos mines. Residents in these areas drink water that contains asbestos, but ingested asbestos is not hazardous to health.

Asbestos is a group of six fibrous minerals that occur naturally in metamorphic deposits located around the world. Of the hydrous magnesium silicate variety, the six types include tremolite asbestos, actinolite asbestos, anthophyllite asbestos, chrysotile asbestos, amosite asbestos and crocidolite asbestos. Asbestos is a chemically inert mineral that is fire resistanct and does not conduct heat or electricity (making it a commonly used insulator), is insoluble and is without odor.

• An environmental hygienist will shortly determine the amount of asbestos scattered throughout the Wallaga Lake community, on the New South Wales far south coast, after recent tests found two types.
• Mr Constance says the Dust Diseases Board lung screening bus will assess community members who helped demolish asbestos homes during the 1990s.
• He says the state and federal governments should pay for all Wallaga Lake community members to be screened for asbestos-related health issues.
• "While we are still waiting for an independent environmental hygienist to assess the volume of asbestos, this should not preclude action in relation to the health of local residents." The ABC has contacted federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon for a response.
• Meanwhile, the NSW Health Minister, John Della Bosca, has downplayed the health risk posed by the types of asbestos found at Wallaga Lake.
• "I'm very conscious about the concerns around asbestos and asbestos-related disease, and what I'll be doing is approaching the Dust Diseases Board to urgently review those matters," he said.

Source From : MP urges community-wide asbestos test

• The research has stated that all types of asbestos including the most common form known as chrysotile leads to lung cancer, laryngeal cancer, ovarian cancer and mesothelioma.
• Mesothelioma symptoms may take places 20 to 50 year after exposure to asbestos, which often enters the advanced stages of the cancer.
• Richard Lemen describes these confirmations as a radical movement in the prevention of asbestos related cancers.
• The institutions also confirmed that laryngeal cancer and ovarian cancer are also consequences of these noxious minerals through exposure to asbestos in our daily life.
• This will help the country and its citizens to fight against the deadly and noxious minerals in asbestos and some day try to eradicate it from the society.
• New proof that confirms asbestos can cause ovarian cancer has put all the women category exposed to the material in danger.
• Latest studies by International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) have reassured that usage of commercial asbestos that contains poisonous minerals can cause lung cancer and mesothelioma.
• Three out of four of people with mesothelioma are over 65 years old.
• The knowledge about the study of asbestos dangers should be widely spread to eradicate the consequences of this disease.
• Mesothelioma is a dreaded cancer cause by exposure to asbestos.

Source From : IRAC Confirmed Usage Of Asbestos Cause Lung Cancer, Mesothelioma .

• The risk was also increased in other industries and the study showed that two-thirds of all British men and one quarter of women had worked in jobs involving potential asbestos exposure at some time in their lives.
• There are just over 2,100 people diagnosed with mesothelioma in the UK each year with about five times as many cases in men as in women.
• Blue asbestos was not used in Britain after 1970, but the use of brown asbestos continued into the 1980s, and carpenters often cut and drilled brown asbestos insulation board with power tools.
• Dr Lesley Walker, Cancer Research UK's director of information, said: "This research is important in revealing who is at greatest risk from asbestos exposure.
• One in 17 British carpenters born in the 1940s will die of mesothelioma - a cancer of the lining of the lung caused by asbestos - according to new research published in the British Journal of Cancer.
• There was also a small increased risk in those who had lived with someone who had been exposed to asbestos.
• For every case of mesothelioma, asbestos also causes about one case of lung cancer so the overall risk of asbestos related cancer for this particular group of carpenters is about one in 10.
• The risk is highest in people who were exposed to asbestos before age 30.

Source From : Baby boomer joiners most at risk from asbestos cancer