asbestos asbestos asbestos (/æsˈbɛstəs, æzˈ-, -tɒs/ ass-best-əs, az-, -⁠oss) is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. there are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere by abrasion and other processes. inhalation of asbestos fibres can lead to various dangerous lung conditions, including mesothelioma, asbestosis, and lung cancer. as a result of these health effects, asbestos is considered a serious health and safety hazard. not to be confused with the lung disease caused by asbestos, asbestosis. asbestosfibrous tremolite asbestos on muscovitegeneralcategorysilicate mineralsstrunz classification09.ed.15dana classification71.01.02d.03crystal systemorthorhombic, monoclinicidentificationformula mass277.11 gcolorgreen, red, yellow, white, gray, bluecrystal habitamorphous, granular, massivecleavageprismaticfracturefibrousmohs scale hardness2.5.6.0lustersilkystreakwhitespecific gravity2.4–3.3optical propertiesbiaxialrefractive index1.53–1.72birefringence0.0082v angle20° to 60°dispersionrelatively weakextinctionparallel or obliqueultraviolet fluorescencenon-fluorescentmelting point400 to 1,040 °c (752 to 1,904 °f) archaeological studies have found evidence of asbestos being used as far back as the stone age to strengthen ceramic pots, but large-scale mining began at the end of the 19th century when manufacturers and builders began using asbestos for its desirable physical properties. asbestos is an excellent thermal and electrical insulator, and is highly fire-resistant, so for much of the 20th century, it was very commonly used across the world as a building material, until its adverse effects on human health were more widely acknowledged in the 1970s. many modern buildings constructed before the 1980s are thought to contain asbestos. the use of asbestos for construction and fireproofing has been made illegal in many countries. despite this, at least 100,000 people are thought to die each year from diseases related to asbestos exposure. in part, this is because many older buildings still contain asbestos; in addition, the consequences of exposure can take decades to arise. the most common diseases associated with chronic asbestos exposure are asbestosis (scarring of the lungs due to asbestos inhalation) and mesothelioma (a type of cancer). many developing countries still support the use of asbestos as a building material, and mining of asbestos is ongoing, with the top producer, russia, having an estimated production of 790,000 tonnes in 2020. etymology the word "asbestos", first used in the 1600s, ultimately derives from the ancient greek: ἄσβεστος, meaning "unquenchable" or "inextinguishable". the name reflects use of the substance for wicks that would never burn up. it was adopted into english via the old french abestos, which in turn got the word from greek via latin, but in the original greek, it actually referred to quicklime. it is said by the oxford english dictionary to have been wrongly used by pliny for asbestos, who popularized the misnomer. asbestos was referred to in greek as amiantos, meaning "undefiled", because it was not marked when thrown into a fire. this is the source for the word for asbestos in many languages, such as the portuguese amianto and the french amiante. it had also been called "amiant" in english in the early 15th century, but this usage was superseded by "asbestos". the word is pronounced /æsˈbɛstəs/ or /æsˈbɛstɒs/. history people have used asbestos for thousands of years to create flexible objects that resist fire, including napkins, but, in the modern era, companies began producing consumer goods containing asbestos on an industrial scale. today people recognize the health hazard that asbestos poses; the use of asbestos is completely banned in 55 countries and strictly regulated in many others. early references and uses asbestos use dates back at least 4,500 years, when the inhabitants of the lake juojärvi region in east finland strengthened earthenware pots and cooking utensils with the asbestos mineral anthophyllite (see asbestos-ceramic). one of the first descriptions of a material that may have been asbestos is in theophrastus, on stones, from around 300 bc, although this identification has been questioned. in both modern and ancient greek, the usual name for the material known in english as "asbestos" is amiantos ("undefiled", "pure"), which was adapted into the french as amiante and into spanish and portuguese as amianto. in modern greek, the word ἀσβεστος or ασβέστης stands consistently and solely for lime. the term asbestos is traceable to roman naturalist pliny the elder's first-century manuscript natural history and his use of the term asbestinon, meaning "unquenchable". while pliny or his nephew pliny the younger is popularly credited with recognising the detrimental effects of asbestos on human beings, examination of the primary sources reveals no support for either claim. athanasius in alexandria, egypt in about 318 ad wrote, "the natural property of fire is to burn. suppose, then, that there was a substance such as the indian asbestos is said to be, which had no fear of being burnt, but rather displayed the impotence of the fire by proving itself unburnable. if anyone doubted the truth of this, all he need do would be to wrap himself up in the substance in question and then touch the fire." wealthy persians amazed guests by cleaning a cloth by exposing it to fire. for example, according to tabari, one of the curious items belonging to khosrow ii parviz, the great sassanian king (r. 590–628), was a napkin (persian: منديل) that he cleaned simply by throwing it into fire. such cloth is believed to have been made of asbestos imported over the hindu kush. according to biruni in his book gems, any cloths made of asbestos (persian: آذرشست, āzarshost) were called shostakeh (persian: شستكه). some persians believed the fiber was the fur of an animal called the samandar (persian: سمندر), which lived in fire and died when exposed to water; this was where the former belief originated that the salamander could tolerate fire. charlemagne, the first holy roman emperor (800–814), is said to have had a tablecloth made of asbestos. marco polo recounts having been shown, in a place he calls ghinghin talas, "a good vein from which the cloth which we call of salamander, which cannot be burnt if it is thrown into the fire, is made ..." some archaeologists believe that ancients made shrouds of asbestos, wherein they burned the bodies of their kings to preserve only their ashes and to prevent the ashes being mixed with those of wood or other combustible materials commonly used in funeral pyres. others assert that the ancients used asbestos to make perpetual wicks for sepulchral or other lamps. a famous example is the golden lamp asbestos lychnis, which the sculptor callimachus made for the erechtheion. in more recent centuries, asbestos was indeed used for this purpose. industrial era industrial scale asbestos mining began in 1878 in thetford township, quebec. by 1895, mining was increasingly mechanized. the large-scale asbestos industry began in the mid-19th century. early attempts at producing asbestos paper and cloth in italy began in the 1850s but were unsuccessful in creating a market for such products. canadian samples of asbestos were displayed in london in 1862, and the first companies were formed in england and scotland to exploit this resource. asbestos was first used in the manufacture of yarn, and german industrialist louis wertheim adopted this process in his factories in germany. in 1871, the patent asbestos manufacturing company was established in glasgow, and during the following decades, the clydebank area became a centre for the nascent industry. canada's biggest power shovel loading an ore train with asbestos at the jeffrey mine, johns-manville co., asbestos, quebec, june 1944 industrial-scale mining began in the thetford hills, quebec, from the 1870s. sir william edmond logan was the first to notice the large deposits of chrysotile in the hills in his capacity as head of geological survey of canada. samples of the minerals from there were displayed in london and elicited much interest. with the opening of the quebec central railway in 1876, mining entrepreneurs such as andrew stuart johnson established the asbestos industry in the province. the 50-ton output of the mines in 1878 rose to over 10,000 tonnes in the 1890s with the adoption of machine technologies and expanded production. for a long time, the world's largest asbestos mine was the jeffrey mine in the town of asbestos, quebec. the applications of asbestos multiplied at the end of the 19th century—this is an advertisement for an asbestos-lined clothes iron from 1906 asbestos production began in the urals of the russian empire in the 1880s, and the alpine regions of northern italy with the formation in turin of the italo-english pure asbestos company in 1876, although this was soon swamped by the greater production levels from the canadian mines. mining also took off in south africa from 1893 under the aegis of the british businessman francis oates, the director of the de beers company. it was in south africa that the production of amosite began in 1910. the u.s. asbestos industry had an early start in 1858 when fibrous anthophyllite was mined for use as asbestos insulation by the johns company, a predecessor to the current johns manville, at a quarry at ward's hill on staten island, new york. us production began in earnest in 1899 with the discovery of large deposits in belvidere mountain. the use of asbestos became increasingly widespread toward the end of the 19th century when its diverse applications included fire-retardant coatings, concrete, bricks, pipes and fireplace cement, heat-, fire-, and acid-resistant gaskets, pipe insulation, ceiling insulation, fireproof drywall, flooring, roofing, lawn furniture, and drywall joint compound. in 2011, it was reported that over 50% of uk houses still contained asbestos, despite a ban on asbestos products some years earlier. in japan, particularly after world war ii, asbestos was used in the manufacture of ammonium sulfate for purposes of rice production, sprayed upon the ceilings, iron skeletons, and walls of railroad cars and buildings (during the 1960s), and used for energy efficiency reasons as well. production of asbestos in japan peaked in 1974 and went through ups and downs until about 1990 when production began to drop dramatically. discovery of toxicity for additional chronological citations, see list of asbestos disease medical articles. in 1899, h. montague murray noted the negative health effects of asbestos. the first documented death related to asbestos was in 1906. in the early 1900s, researchers began to notice a large number of early deaths and lung problems in asbestos-mining towns. the first such study was conducted by murray at the charing cross hospital, london, in 1900, in which a postmortem investigation discovered asbestos traces in the lungs of a young man who had died from pulmonary fibrosis after having worked for 14 years in an asbestos textile factory. adelaide anderson, the inspector of factories in britain, included asbestos in a list of harmful industrial substances in 1902. similar investigations were conducted in france in 1906 and italy in 1908. asbestos fabric rockbestos, asbestos covered wire advertisement in exhibitor's herald, 1926 the first diagnosis of asbestosis was made in the uk in 1924. nellie kershaw was employed at turner brothers asbestos in rochdale, greater manchester, england, from 1917, spinning raw asbestos fibre into yarn. her death in 1924 led to a formal inquest. pathologist william edmund cooke testified that his examination of the lungs indicated old scarring indicative of a previous, healed tuberculosis infection, and extensive fibrosis, in which were visible "particles of mineral matter ... of various shapes, but the large majority have sharp angles." having compared these particles with samples of asbestos dust provided by s. a. henry, his majesty's medical inspector of factories, cooke concluded that they "originated from asbestos and were, beyond a reasonable doubt, the primary cause of the fibrosis of the lungs and therefore of death." as a result of cooke's paper, parliament commissioned an inquiry into the effects of asbestos dust by e. r. a. merewether, medical inspector of factories, and c. w. price, a factory inspector and pioneer of dust monitoring and control. their subsequent report, occurrence of pulmonary fibrosis & other pulmonary affections in asbestos workers, was presented to parliament on 24 march 1930. it concluded that the development of asbestosis was irrefutably linked to the prolonged inhalation of asbestos dust, and included the first health study of asbestos workers, which found that 66% of those employed for 20 years or more suffered from asbestosis. the report led to the publication of the first asbestos industry regulations in 1931, which came into effect on 1 march 1932. these rules regulated ventilation and made asbestosis