Asbestos is one of the oldest minerals to be found on Earth and is history as we know it dates back at least 2000 years.
The name origin is Greek and translated means inextinguishable.
While the ancient Greeks were aware of the dangers of this mineral, they still continued using it because they though it had magical properties that outweighed the health risks.
Early on symptoms of illnesses have been noticed at slaves who were wearing clothes containing asbestos in them.
They were noticing 'sickness of the lungs'.
In the middle ages there were many table clothes during the Charlemagne kingdom created with asbestos in them, however this mineral really became popular again in the 1800s.
With the appearance of the Industrial Revolution the uses of asbestos really peaked during those times.
Now it was suddenly used in boilers, turbines, ovens and insulation for steam pipes since it was known to be a very good insulator.
The actual deadly toxic effects of it have been really first investigated in 1917 and 1918 when lots of young people working in mines were dying too soon and too often.
The first official illness caused by asbestos was coined 'asbestosis' in 1924.
This was basically causing lung cancer and people were dying all too often from it.
In 1931 a new legislation has been enacted that recognized the dangers and risks of this mineral and requested increased ventilation in dangerous work places.
Earlier on the asbestos industry was using close to 3000 different products that were created through the world and these were mostly used in construction, textile industries and also car manufacturing.
It was easily inhaled through asbestos fibers, or when it was woven in clothes or even mixed with another binder like calcium silicate to make the older types of vinyl flooring that were so popular up till around 1975 or so.
The compound has several strengths which were the main cause of the various industries using it, such as being a very good insulator, and heat resistant as well as chemical resistant.
There are still many older homes and industrial buildings that heavily include it and they still possess a health risk to the owners, as well as to the eventual builders who will be tearing at one point these buildings down.
The most dangers of coming into contact with asbestos is through inhalation and swallowing the particles, which can be easily embedded in the respiratory or digestive system tissues causing lung and other types of cancer.
The three main types of illnesses caused by this mineral are: asbestosis, mesothelioma and lung cancer being the most known among people in general.