Part of the green building revolution involves replacing harmful materials with non-toxic alternatives. The harmful products that need replacing often pose a threat to the environment and human health.
Asbestos is unique in that even though it is a natural material, it causes serious diseases and cancers in humans including lung cancer and malignant mesothelioma cancer. We often associate natural with healthy, but in the case of asbestos, natural is harmful.
Asbestos is a natural mineral and was used in thousands of products throughout the 1900s, and of those products, hundreds of them were used in homes and other buildings. Any structure built before the 1980s may contain products with significant levels of asbestos.
Though it generally takes heavy and repeated asbestos exposure to place a person at risk of developing a disease, asbestos products in a home could be harmful if they are damaged or become damaged.
Homeowners and home residents should become knowledgeable about which products could contain asbestos and should monitor their home for potentially damaged materials. The importance of hiring an experienced and accredited asbestos professional to perform inspections and abatement cannot be emphasized enough.
Asbestos Exposure in the Home
Asbestos exposure awareness begins with knowledge of the products that could contain the toxic mineral.
Home materials that could contain asbestos include:
- Wall and attic insulation
- Vinyl floor tiles and flooring adhesive
- Roofing and side panel tiles and their adhesives
- Paint and patching products
- Wall products like drywall and millboard
- Plumbing materials
- Boilers, fireplaces and furnaces
- Cement products
Asbestos may also be in a garage if a vehicle containing asbestos brakes is parked there regularly.
An asbestos material that is in good condition generally poses little threat of exposure. However, natural disasters, accidents and home remodeling can disturb the material and lead to asbestos exposure.
Asbestos material that is aging or damaged could pose an exposure threat and should be assessed by an asbestos professional.
Asbestos Abatement
It is not possible to identify whether a material contains asbestos through visual inspection alone. Sampling and testing suspicious material is the only way to confirm the presence or absence of asbestos.
Only a trained and accredited asbestos professional should sample, test and abate asbestos products in a home. The risk of exposure during sampling and abatement is too high for untrained persons to safely perform.
Do not panic if you suspect asbestos may be in your home. In most cases, home exposure is minimal and rarely poses a serious health risk. However, some people carry genes (genetic coding) that increase their risk of developing a disease following asbestos exposure. In rare cases, a single, heavy exposure has resulted in disease.
To avoid exposure in a home, educate yourself on the products that may contain asbestos and monitor your home for such products to see if they are in need of repair. Seek the advice of an asbestos inspector when you suspect the presence of damaged asbestos materials. If testing confirms that asbestos is present, hire an asbestos contractor to repair or remove the material.
Author bio: Michelle Whitmer has been a medical writer and editor for The Mesothelioma Center since 2008. Focused on the benefits of natural and holistic medicine for cancer patients, Michelle is a certified yoga instructor and earned her B.A. in Environmental Studies from Rollins College in Florida.
Sources
Environmental Protection Agency. (2014). Asbestos. Retrieved from http://www2.epa.gov/asbestos
