The understanding of how much asbestos is our enemy made it possible, starting from 1994, to prohibit the production and marketing of any product in which it was contained; it also launched the reclamation operations of all those areas affected by the presence of asbestos, including residential buildings (just think of the eternity used in the past for roofing and insulation). Domestic exposure to asbestos is in fact one of the most dangerous, as it is subtle and prolonged over time.
However, even the occasional environmental exposure to asbestos dust is not without risk: what is important to understand is that in the areas affected by the presence of asbestos there are no zero risk areas.
The Other Option
On the other hand, it is not possible to define a minimum exposure time from which a pathological condition is established with certainty, or how much asbestos you need to breathe to get sick. There have been cases of subjects who, despite being exposed for a short time to amphibole asbestos fibers, then developed pleural mesothelioma, a form of cancer that affects the cells of the pleura. Choosing the local asbestos company is the best option here.
Therefore, as a determining factor, the type of asbestos to which one is exposed must also be included in the assessment of the risk of exposure. It should also be considered that similar exposure times can have different effects on different subjects, due to the peculiar characteristics that one subject may have compared to another (age, physical state, presence of any other pathologies, etc.)
Pathologies induced by prolonged exposure and occasional exposure may correspond to asbestosis (or pulmonary fibrosis), lung cancer, mesothelioma (or tumor of the pleura). These are diseases that can arise even after many years of exposure to asbestos dust.
Asbestosis usually affects those who have worked with asbestos in the past, and have been exposed to its dust for a long time; it is a non-reversible disease, which manifests itself with the thickening and stiffening of the lung tissue, with the result of a more difficult oxygenation of the blood.
The symptoms of asbestos exposure with which mesothelioma manifests itself in its onset can result in shortness of breath, a feeling of exhaustion and muscle weakness, fever, cough and difficulty in swallowing. Mesothelioma can develop even at a distance of 25/40 from an occasional exposure to asbestos and, as in the case of other forms of cancer, if diagnosed in time before its excessive spread there are greater possibilities to treat it effectively (through radiotherapy chemotherapy or surgery).
What if We breathed in asbestos once
Asbestos is only dangerous if inhaled, It is important to understand that where there are artifacts containing this mineral, there is always a risk of exposure, associated with the possibility of breathing the fibers that the asbestos subject to flaking – releases into the environment.
The probability that our body – exposed to asbestos dust – develops pathologies affecting the respiratory system depends on the exposure time (therefore on the inhaled dose), but also on the type of inhaled asbestos fibers: needle fibers, produced by flaking of amphibole asbestos, are the most dangerous.
