So asbestos is super dangerous to your lungs. It’s tiny, and sharp, so your lungs can’t remove it using mucus etc as it would with other dusts/particles.
*That makes sense.*
But what about fibreglass insulation – it’s tiny little super sharp glass fibres that (in my head) aren’t much different to fibreglass.
What about fine sand, or even diatomaceous earth which is famous for its ability to kill bugs/insects BECAUSE it’s super sharp on a micro level?
^For ^the ^flair, ^not ^sure ^if ^this ^is ^a ^biology, ^physics ^or ^chemstry ^question. ^I’m ^hoping ^’bio’ ^is ^OK.
^I ^just ^finished ^insulating ^the ^loft ^with ^my ^father-in-law. ^I ^wore ^a ^respirator, ^he ^didn’t ^(too ^’proud’?) ^- ^I’m ^fine, ^just ^itchy ^skin, ^but ^he’s ^had ^a ^bad ^cough ^for ^a ^few ^days.
In: 4960
Asbestos tends to be shaped like a fish hook with “barbs” on the end of the fibre. So on top of being super small (way smaller than human hair) once it goes deep in your lungs it can penetrate and “hook” into the lungs. After years and years the scar tissue builds over this foreign object in your lungs. Other dusts are usually stuck in mucus and can br coughed out. Although working in high concentrations of insulation dust filled air can still cause lung and sinus complications over time as well.
What about fine sand, or even diatomaceous earth which is famous for its ability to kill bugs/insects BECAUSE it’s super sharp on a micro level
Fine sand is often composed of silica dioxide. If the micron size of the fibers is small enough ( 6-8 as I recall but it has been a while since I needed the dimensions), they too lodge in the lungs.
Silica /fine sand causes silicosis which will essentially stiffen your lungs so they can’t expand and exchange oxygen
Asbestos can generally cause asbestosis which form plaques on your lung and diaphragm pleura. Asbestos can go on to trigger cancer, usually either non-small cell carcinoma lung cancer or mesothelioma. Meso is most common in the lungs, but also can occur in the abdomen ( peritoneal) and the testes. Testicular meso’ can be cured by amputation.
Other substances that you inhale can cause mechanical damage- flour can cause something called baker’s lung.
To answer OP’s question abut flair, this is either medicine or metallurgy or industrial hygiene.
Source, I have been in Occ’ Disease business for a long time.
JESUS CHRIST. These are the most confidently incorrect answers I’ve seen in a while.
Of the five main types of Asbestos fiber, the most commonly used type is Crysotile.
The main hazardous characteristic of it is that when it becomes *fryable* the fibers tend to break into shards that have a weird physical structure that results in the ends of the fragments to have curled, hook-like ends that resemble microscopic velcro.
The hooked ends are very good at sticking into tissue, and unlike fiberglass, silica, and other commonly inhaled harmful substances, the body cannot dislodge the particles as effectively. This results in the particles remaining in the body for MUCH longer, and that causes a body to resort to other means of self-preservation, such as encapsulation.
When the body encapsulates an asbestos fiber, it deposits calcium around it and forms a layer of scar tissue around the deposit.
One or two fibers isn’t much of a problem, but people who have repeatedly been exposed to airborne particulates over linger periods of time, can have their lung tissues saturated with these asbestos-calcium deposits. Scar tissue cannot support oxygen/CO2 exchange, so having your lungs filled with scar tissue can cause a person to lose a significant percentage of usable lung tissue. (I used to work with an old-timer industrial insulator who only had 30% of one lung left.)
This is called Asbestosis. It is a chronic condition and there is no treatment.
The other serious concern with Asbestos is that having asbestos in your lungs has been linked with an incredibly high increase in occurrence of lung cancer (80 times. 400x if you’re a smoker) and worse than that is the linked likelihood of developing Mesothelioma, which is, IMHO, the scariest kind of cancer possible. It’s cancer of the lining of internal organs, which means that it’s almost guaranteed to metastasize before you even know you have it. It’s a death sentence with a short timer, and it’ll waste a human into a husk faster than pancreatic cancer.
As someone who absorbed some Asbestos from when Brake Pads were made from Asbestos. I drove taxi, and every time you pulled up to the lights, you drove into a faint cloud of brake dust. Since cars then didn’t have air conditioners, you drove with windows open in summer and breathed it in. The upshot of that is CT Scan showed I have a pleural thickening in my lung caused by Asbestos. It may end turn into mesothelioma, or lung cancer or might just end up being benign. Either way it is what it is and I”m not worried.
Asbestos is so dangerous because of its shape.
The fibers which are especially dangerous are also classified as WHO fibers which have a length over 5 micrometers while having a diameter below 3 micrometers and a length to diameter ratio of 3:1. These fibers will pierce and kill the macrophages, the cells protecting your body against external threats on a molecular level. This leads to an extrem reaction of your body which results in cancer.
NO, it doesn’t interact with or cut your DNA! Never!
Especially old fibreglass might have fibers which have this shape or is even mixed with asbestos. Newer fibreglass is produced in a way that avoids the formation of these fibers and is therefore safer.
Source: I work in an institute for research of occupational safety in the fiber department.
Latest Answers