Asbestos, America’s Legal Killer: What Is Asbestos

Asbestos is a mineral used in many construction products. It is a known carcinogen that can cause serious diseases, such as mesothelioma and lung cancer.

Asbestos refers to a group of six minerals, all of which are impossible to pronounce (— you can try it out: crocidolite, anthophyllite, amosite, chrysotile, actinolite and tremolite).

The weird thing is that asbestos is used by manufacturers for the exact two reasons that it makes people so sick: its microscopically small size and its durability.

Thanks to its microscopically small size, a person can easily inhale or ingest asbestos whenever the asbestos-laden products or materials are disturbed. Its tiny fibers are smaller in micrometers than fine sand, fog or even several forms of bacteria.

And thanks to its durability, once a person inhales or ingests asbestos, the fibers tend to stick to the respiratory or digestive systems like the inner cavity tissue and the lining of the lungs — and they don’t like to budge.

In fact, once inhaled, asbestos can become so stuck in a person’s soft internal tissue that their bodies cannot break down or expel the carcinogen no matter how hard it tries. Yeah, detoxes, juice cleanses… asbestos has that secret weapon of small and strong to make sure it stays in the body indefinitely.

And once that clock starts ticking… for some people, the eventual outcome, generally decades down the road, is serious asbestos- related diseases like lung cancer and mesothelioma.