Short- and Long-Term Effects of Asbestos

In previous decades, asbestos was a common ingredient in building construction but was later determined to be hazardous to humans and is now classified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a known human carcinogen. Inhalation can cause lung cancer and mesothelioma. Generally speaking, asbestos is a term used to describe a group of six naturally occurring mineral silicates. Since they are resistant to both heat and acid, asbestos was used as insulation around pipes and furnaces.

Short-Term Exposure

• Short-term or acute asbestos exposure can cause specific symptoms that make themselves known immediately. Exposure occurs when the material frays, causing tiny fibers and particulates to become airborne, where they are breathed by anyone in the vicinity. Immediately upon inhalation, the person may notice a shortness of breath, chest or abdominal pain and irritation of either the skin or mucus membranes or both. Since some asbestos is in the air around us, a moderate level of exposure will not necessarily cause any short-term adverse effect.

Long-Term Exposure

• Long-term exposure to asbestos, sometimes requiring as much as 20 or 30 years to show up, can result in serious health hazards. The term used to describe the resulting medical condition is asbestosis, which manifests itself as a chronic lung disease, often resulting in lung cancer or mesothelioma. According to the United States Army, the chances of developing these conditions depends upon how often and to what concentration a person was exposed. Long-term external effects of asbestosis include shortness of breath, dry cough, thickening of finger ends and a bluish tint to the skin. Chest X-rays may reveal pleural thickening and plural plaques. After the initial short-term effects, it's common for a period of time to pass when no further symptoms develop. If exposure is suspected, medical monitoring in the form of chest X-rays every five years is called for.

Final Tips

• In layman's terms, the process of asbestosis is a scarring of the lungs. As a progressive disease, symptoms and effects normally grow worse over time, even after exposure has been withdrawn. Severe cases sometimes result in death due to deterioration of the respiratory system. The EPA realized that, as a natural element, some asbestos is always in the air around us. Mathematical models released by the agency predict that breathing air containing .000004 fibers/cm³ over an entire lifetime would result in theoretically no chance of developing asbestosis.