Am I Right To Be Feeling This Way?
Family Life12 mins ago
Asbestos contact 11 years ago
10 Answers
When I was 15 I was paid to remove tiles off a asbestos roof, I have had concers about this for some unknown reason recently, I never wore a mask cause no one told me it was dangerous, is this something I could go to the nhs about?
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recently published research suggests that single or low level exposures are very unlikely to lead to disease and the risks with such an exposure are considered "insignificant".
disease associated with asbestos exposure occurs through breathing in asbestos fibre as dust. the chance of developing a disease is related to 2 factors - the amount of fibre inhaled and the duration of exposure. since it sounds as though you were out in the open then the risk may be lower still.
if you think you may have been exposed, you may wish to discuss your concerns with your doctor, but it takes many years for the effects of asbestos to appear.
disease associated with asbestos exposure occurs through breathing in asbestos fibre as dust. the chance of developing a disease is related to 2 factors - the amount of fibre inhaled and the duration of exposure. since it sounds as though you were out in the open then the risk may be lower still.
if you think you may have been exposed, you may wish to discuss your concerns with your doctor, but it takes many years for the effects of asbestos to appear.
Fibre-cement slates, Dylan. We still call them "asbestos slates". ..... very confusing. There hasn't been any asbestos in them for as long as I can remember. Roofers strip them off all the time. There is no legal health consideration that I know of.
What you could would be to ring the technical departments of "Thrutone", or "Marley Eternit". They're the market leaders. They might have some history on the subject.
What you could would be to ring the technical departments of "Thrutone", or "Marley Eternit". They're the market leaders. They might have some history on the subject.
Ankou has already given you very good advice here and correctly identified two of the factors that drive the risk of contracting an asbestos disease up. The third one is the type of asbestos. Without getting too far into technical details, the 3 types are commonly known as blue white and brown. The vast majority of asbestos cement is made up of about 15% amosite - brown asbestos which is the least aggressive. Coupled with the fact that only a small percentage of the material you identified is asbestos, the risk is very small.
TB is correct that there has been no asbestos in these type of products for many years now (can't remember how many - at a guess, 25 years) but most asbestos cement products being removed date back to the 50s, 60s and 70s - when the greatest volume use of their use occurred.
You can go to your doctor and explain the situation - I did this for similar reasons to you and was offered a chest X-ray. As you were young at the time, I would do this because younger lungs have been shown to show as increased risk (only marginally though).
TB - the brand 'Eternit' is a product brand owned by Marley. Eternit used to contain a low percentage of amosite, so it is not true that it is asbestos-free. Black amosite toilet cisterns and lino tiles are 2 sources of this - it is OK to remove these products if in non-friable condition provided one doesn't drill into them, but disposal requires a proper licensed disposal.
I find it unhelpful that deggers mentions his relative in the context of this question. I guess we all know an unfortunate person who has succumbed to this. Asbestos used for insulation purposes (lagging) is the worse issue, and blue asbestos was often used here - the fibres break off into free air - to give an idea the risk factor was perhaps 500x more than what happened to you. But as is so often the case, news sources just love to give the worst scenario when reporting risk - it sells newspapers.
TB is correct that there has been no asbestos in these type of products for many years now (can't remember how many - at a guess, 25 years) but most asbestos cement products being removed date back to the 50s, 60s and 70s - when the greatest volume use of their use occurred.
You can go to your doctor and explain the situation - I did this for similar reasons to you and was offered a chest X-ray. As you were young at the time, I would do this because younger lungs have been shown to show as increased risk (only marginally though).
TB - the brand 'Eternit' is a product brand owned by Marley. Eternit used to contain a low percentage of amosite, so it is not true that it is asbestos-free. Black amosite toilet cisterns and lino tiles are 2 sources of this - it is OK to remove these products if in non-friable condition provided one doesn't drill into them, but disposal requires a proper licensed disposal.
I find it unhelpful that deggers mentions his relative in the context of this question. I guess we all know an unfortunate person who has succumbed to this. Asbestos used for insulation purposes (lagging) is the worse issue, and blue asbestos was often used here - the fibres break off into free air - to give an idea the risk factor was perhaps 500x more than what happened to you. But as is so often the case, news sources just love to give the worst scenario when reporting risk - it sells newspapers.
Hi I am an asbestos surveyor and analyst in uk.
Some of your answers were not correct.
If it is the tiles which contained asbestos as the roof then likely hood is that the tiles would have contained chrysotile the most commonly used asbestos type.
I have seen and sampled many for analysis,chrysotile(white asbestos) not amosite(brown asbestos) is the only type that your body can actually have some defense against,since its composition can be slightly broken down by acids.
It is considered as a carcinogen,i.e causes cancers.
However if you were outside and didnt break too many chances are you wouldnt have inhaled too much as these fibres break down into microscopic fibrils which are likely to blow around in the wind.
However if the roof was an insulating board with tiles on top thats not quite so reassuring since of the 6 types of asbestos the amphiboles which would likely include amosite and possibly crocidolite (brown and blue types)are more serious as they are resistant to acids and stay in the body.
There are several thousand products which contain asbestos,chances are we will all come into contact with asbestos.
We should all be aware and teach about it in schools especially as school buildings have so much of it.(200 teachers died in a 10 year period their crime was to stick up decorations using drawing pins in asbestos ceilings and when they pulled them out so down came the fibres.)
My advice. Just dont worry if your exposed there is nothing you can do about it. The diseases of cancer, asbetosis, meso can take a long period to developsome times up to 30-40 years.
Some of your answers were not correct.
If it is the tiles which contained asbestos as the roof then likely hood is that the tiles would have contained chrysotile the most commonly used asbestos type.
I have seen and sampled many for analysis,chrysotile(white asbestos) not amosite(brown asbestos) is the only type that your body can actually have some defense against,since its composition can be slightly broken down by acids.
It is considered as a carcinogen,i.e causes cancers.
However if you were outside and didnt break too many chances are you wouldnt have inhaled too much as these fibres break down into microscopic fibrils which are likely to blow around in the wind.
However if the roof was an insulating board with tiles on top thats not quite so reassuring since of the 6 types of asbestos the amphiboles which would likely include amosite and possibly crocidolite (brown and blue types)are more serious as they are resistant to acids and stay in the body.
There are several thousand products which contain asbestos,chances are we will all come into contact with asbestos.
We should all be aware and teach about it in schools especially as school buildings have so much of it.(200 teachers died in a 10 year period their crime was to stick up decorations using drawing pins in asbestos ceilings and when they pulled them out so down came the fibres.)
My advice. Just dont worry if your exposed there is nothing you can do about it. The diseases of cancer, asbetosis, meso can take a long period to developsome times up to 30-40 years.
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