Why can Asbestos dust or fibres be dangerous to your health?
- If you do not undertake safety precautions when working with or removing asbestos, you will risk exposing yourself and your family to long-term health risk.
- There is NO safe level of exposure to asbestos fibres.
- Asbestos can release dangerous fine particles of dust containing asbestos fibres if it is disturbed.
- Asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma can be caused by inhaling of dust containing asbestos fibres.
- Mesothelioma is a cancer which has no cure. Most often this occurs in the lining of the lung.
- The risk of developing an asbestos related disease based on the number of fibres inhaled and the amount of time you inhaled the asbestos fibres (i.e. the number of years you exposed to asbestos fibres).
- If you smoke, you increase the chance of developing lung cancer from inhaling asbestos dust.
- The symptoms of these asbestos related diseases won’t appear till 20-30 years since the first exposure.
- It will take about averagely 45 years to develop mesothelioma since the exposure.
Asbestosis :
Asbestosis is a serious, chronic, non-cancerous respiratory disease. When you inhale asbestos fibers they aggravate lung tissues, which cause them to scar.
Symptoms – shortness of breath and a dry crackling sound in the lungs while inhaling. Cardiac failure can be caused in its advanced stages.
There is no effective treatment for this disease.
Lung cancer :
This causes the most number of deaths related to asbestos.
Symptoms – Most common symptoms are coughing and change of breathing. Other symptoms can be shortness of breath, continuous pain in the chest, hoarseness and anemia.
If you are a smoker and exposed to asbestos there is a greater chance of developing lung cancer.
Mesothelioma:
This is a rare form of cancer. This often found in the thin membrane of the lungs, chest, abdomen and (rarely) heart. Almost all the cases related to this disease are due to exposure to asbestos.
Symptoms – the first symptoms of this disease include chest or abdominal pain, bloating, and shortness of breath. These symptoms vary based on the location of the cancer. However, doctors often mistakes them as normal aches and pains or symptoms of non-serious illnesses because of the slightness of the early-stage signs.
Other cancers:
There are evidence that cancers in esophagus, larynx, oral cavity, stomach, colon and kidney can be caused by swallowing or absorbing asbestos.
To be in the safe side book an Asbestos audit with Seymour Consultants.