WAsbestos is a term used to refer to six naturally occurring silicate minerals. All are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic 'fibrils' that can be released into the atmosphere by abrasion and other processes. Asbestos is an excellent electrical insulator and is highly heat-resistant, so for many years it was used as a building material. However, it is now a well-known health and safety hazard and the use of asbestos as a building material is illegal in many countries. Inhalation of asbestos fibres can lead to various serious lung conditions, including asbestosis and cancer.
WIn construction, asbestos abatement is a set of procedures designed to control the release of asbestos fibers from asbestos-containing materials. Asbestos abatement is utilized during general construction in areas containing asbestos materials, particularly when those materials are being removed, encapsulated, or repaired. Abatement is needed in order to protect construction workers and members of the general public from the many negative health impacts of asbestos.
WActinolite is an amphibole silicate mineral with the chemical formula Ca2(Mg4.5-2.5Fe2+0.5-2.5)Si8O22(OH)2.
WAmphibole is a group of inosilicate minerals, forming prism or needlelike crystals, composed of double chain SiO4 tetrahedra, linked at the vertices and generally containing ions of iron and/or magnesium in their structures. Amphiboles can be green, black, colorless, white, yellow, blue, or brown. The International Mineralogical Association currently classifies amphiboles as a mineral supergroup, within which are two groups and several subgroups.
WAnthophyllite is an amphibole mineral: ☐Mg2Mg5Si8O22(OH)2 (☐ is for a vacancy, a point defect in the crystal structure), magnesium iron inosilicate hydroxide. Anthophyllite is polymorphic with cummingtonite. Some forms of anthophyllite are lamellar or fibrous and are classed as asbestos. The name is derived from the Latin word anthophyllum, meaning clove, an allusion to the most common color of the mineral.
WAsbestos cement, genericized as fibro or fibrolite - short for "fibrous cement sheet" - and AC sheet, is a building material in which asbestos fibres are used to reinforce thin rigid cement sheets.
WAsbestos Convention, 1986 is an International Labour Organization Convention, adopted at the 72nd session of the International Labour Conference.
WThe Asbestos Mountains is a range of hills in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, stretching south-southwest from Kuruman, where the range is known as the Kuruman Hills, to Prieska. It passes Boetsap, Danielskuil, Lime Acres, Douglas and Griekwastad. The range lies about 150 km west of Kimberley and rises from the Ghaap Plateau.
WAsbestosis is long term inflammation and scarring of the lungs due to asbestos fibers. Symptoms may include shortness of breath, cough, wheezing, and chest tightness. Complications may include lung cancer, mesothelioma, and pulmonary heart disease.
WBaryulgil is a rural locality in north-eastern New South Wales, Australia. The locality is on the Clarence River in the Clarence Valley Council local government area. It is the birthplace of Australian cricketer Jack Marsh and former boxer Tony Mundine.
WLewis Herold Brown was an industrialist and former Chairman of Johns-Manville, once the world's largest manufacturer of asbestos and asbestos products.
WCape plc is a British energy services company based in West Drayton, Middlesex. It was acquired by Altrad in September 2017.
WChrysotile or white asbestos is the most commonly encountered form of asbestos, accounting for approximately 95% of the asbestos in the United States and a similar proportion in other countries. It is a soft, fibrous silicate mineral in the serpentine subgroup of phyllosilicates; as such, it is distinct from other asbestiform minerals in the amphibole group. Its idealized chemical formula is Mg3(Si2O5)(OH)4. The material has physical properties which make it desirable for inclusion in building materials, but poses serious health risks when dispersed into air and inhaled.
WCummingtonite is a metamorphic amphibole with the chemical composition (Mg,Fe2+)2(Mg,Fe2+)5Si8O22(OH)2, magnesium iron silicate hydroxide.
WAsbestos-related diseases are disorders of the lung and pleura caused by the inhalation of asbestos fibres. Asbestos-related diseases include non-malignant disorders such as asbestosis, diffuse pleural thickening, pleural plaques, pleural effusion, rounded atelectasis and malignancies such as lung cancer and malignant mesothelioma.
WEternit is a registered trademark for a brand of fibre cement. Fibre is often applied in building and construction materials, mainly in roofing and facade products.
WFibre cement is a composite building and construction material, used mainly in roofing and facade products because of its strength and durability. One common use is in fiber cement siding on buildings.
WThe Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency (FACT) Act of 2013 is a bill that would require asbestos trusts in the United States to file quarterly reports about the payouts they make and who receives them. The goal of this requirement is to prevent fraud by ensuring claimants don't file for the same injury with more than one of the asbestos trusts. There are approximately 60 trusts with billions of dollars in them. This bill was introduced into the United States House of Representatives during the 113th United States Congress.
WThe Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency (FACT) Act of 2015 is a bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Congressman Blake Farenthold that would require asbestos trusts in the United States to file quarterly reports about the payouts they make and personal information on the victims who receive them in a publicly accessible database. The legislation would also allow defendant corporations in asbestos cases to demand information from the trusts for any reason.
WGarlock Sealing Technologies, a subsidiary of EnPro Industries, produces Klozure Dynamic Seals and other sealing products. Garlock has a global presence, with 1,887 employees, at 14 facilities, in twelve countries.
WGrunerite is a mineral of the amphibole group of minerals with formula Fe7Si8O22(OH)2. It is the iron endmember of the grunerite-cummingtonite series. It forms as fibrous, columnar or massive aggregates of crystals. The crystals are monoclinic prismatic. The luster is glassy to pearly with colors ranging from green, brown to dark grey. The Mohs hardness is 5 to 6 and the specific gravity is 3.4 to 3.5.
WAll types of asbestos fibers are known to cause serious health hazards in humans. The most common diseases associated with chronic exposure to asbestos are asbestosis and mesothelioma.
WSir Thomas Hutchison was a Scottish landowner and politician. He served as Lord Provost of Edinburgh from 1921 to 1923.
WJack Watkins Reserve is a park in the Australian state of South Australia situated adjacent to the Islington Railway Workshops in the suburb of Kilburn within the local government area of City of Port Adelaide Enfield. The park was named after Jack Watkins, a union organiser and former president of The Asbestos Diseases Society of South Australia who successfully lobbied to remove asbestos and other toxic contaminants from the railway site and adjacent properties. The park was opened in late August 2003 as a tribute to the large number of former railway workers who succumbed to asbestos-related diseases while working at the yard.
WJohns Manville is an American corporation based in Denver, Colorado that manufactures insulation, roofing materials, and engineered products. For much of the 20th century, the then-titled Johns-Manville Corporation was the global leader in the manufacture of asbestos-containing products, including asbestos pipe insulation, asbestos shingles, asbestos roofing materials and asbestos cement pipe.
WKeasbey and Mattison Company was a manufacturing company that produced asbestos-related building products, including insulation and shingles. Founded in 1873 by Henry Griffith Keasbey (1850-1932) and Richard Van Zeelust Mattison (1851-1935), the company moved to Ambler, Pennsylvania, in 1881. By World War I, the Keasbey and Mattison Company's presence caused Ambler to be known as the "asbestos capital of the world". Keasbey and Mattison was purchased by Turner & Newall in 1934.
WNellie Kershaw was an English textile worker from Rochdale, Lancashire. Her death due to pulmonary asbestosis was the first such case to be described in medical literature, and the first published account of disease attributed to occupational asbestos exposure. Before his publication of the case in the British Medical Journal, Dr William Edmund Cooke had already testified at Kershaw's inquest that "mineral particles in the lungs originated from asbestos and were, beyond reasonable doubt, the primary cause of the fibrosis of the lungs and therefore of death". Her employers, Turner Brothers Asbestos, accepted no liability for her injuries, paid no compensation to her bereaved family and refused to contribute towards funeral expenses as it "would create a precedent and admit responsibility". She was buried in an unmarked pauper's grave. The subsequent inquiries into her death led to the publication of the first Asbestos Industry Regulations in 1931.
WKiller Company: James Hardie Exposed is a 2009 Australian book by journalist Matt Peacock.
WLibby is a city in northwestern Montana, United States and the county seat of Lincoln County. The population was 2,628 at the 2010 census.
WMesothelioma is a type of cancer that develops from the thin layer of tissue that covers many of the internal organs. The most common area affected is the lining of the lungs and chest wall. Less commonly the lining of the abdomen and rarely the sac surrounding the heart, or the sac surrounding the testis may be affected. Signs and symptoms of mesothelioma may include shortness of breath due to fluid around the lung, a swollen abdomen, chest wall pain, cough, feeling tired, and weight loss. These symptoms typically come on slowly.
WMr Fluffy refers to a widespread asbestos contamination incident that occurred in the suburbs of Canberra, the capital city of Australia. Two companies, referred to collectively as Mr Fluffy, imported and installed fibrous, loose-fill amphibole asbestos as an insulation by blowing the product into roof spaces of homes during the 1960s and 1970s. Additionally, the companies are believed to have sold sacks of asbestos fibre direct to homeowners to insulate their own homes, and other operators may have also used the hazardous material trying to copy Jansen's business model.
WThe New Idria Mercury Mine encompasses 8,000 acres of land in the Diablo Mountain range, incorporating the town of Idria in San Benito County, California. Idria, initially named New Idria, is situated at 36°25′01″N 120°40′24″W and 2440 feet (680m) above mean sea level. The area was, in the past, recorded in the US Census Bureau as a rural community; however, Idria has become a ghost town since the closing of once lucrative mining operations in the early 1970s.
WOwens-Illinois Inc. is a Fortune 500 company that specializes in container glass products. It is one of the world's leading manufacturers of packaging products, holding the position of largest manufacturer of glass containers in North America, South America, Asia-Pacific and Europe. Approximately one of every two glass containers made worldwide is made by O-I, its affiliates, or its licensees.
WOwens Corning is an American company that develops and produces insulation, roofing, and fiberglass composites and related materials and products. It is the world‘s largest manufacturer of fiberglass composites. It was formed in 1935 as a partnership between two major American glassworks, Corning Glass Works and Owens-Illinois. The company employs approximately 19,000 people around the world. Owens Corning has been a Fortune 500 company every year since the list was created in 1955. The Pink Panther appears in most of the company’s advertisements.
WPleural thickening is an increase in the bulkiness of one or both of the pulmonary pleurae.
WLinda Reinstein is the co-founder of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO), a nonprofit focused on asbestos awareness and preventing related diseases through education, advocacy, and community efforts.
WRiebeckite is a sodium-rich member of the amphibole group of silicate minerals, chemical formula Na2(Fe2+3Fe3+2)Si8O22(OH)2. It forms a solid solution series with magnesioriebeckite. It crystallizes in the monoclinic system, usually as long prismatic crystals showing a diamond-shaped cross section, but also in fibrous, bladed, acicular, columnar, and radiating forms. Its Mohs hardness is 5.0–6.0, and its specific gravity is 3.0–3.4. Cleavage is perfect, two directions in the shape of a diamond; fracture is uneven, splintery. It is often translucent to nearly opaque.
WRichard F. "Dickie" Scruggs is an American former A6A naval aviator, a formerly prominent trial lawyer, now disbarred, and the brother-in-law of former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott. Scruggs first came to the public eye after successfully suing the asbestos industry on behalf of ill shipyard workers. He later represented the state of Mississippi in the tobacco litigation of the 1990s. He also represented hundreds of homeowners in lawsuits against insurance companies following Hurricane Katrina, and a national class action of patients against HMOs in the early 2000s.
WIrving J. Selikoff was a medical researcher who in the 1960s established a link between the inhalation of asbestos particles and lung-related ailments. His work is largely responsible for the regulation of asbestos today. He also co-discovered a treatment for tuberculosis.
W'Southern Asbestos Company Mills, also known as Fiber Mills, is a historic asbestos factory complex located at Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. The complex consists of two red brick buildings joined by a bridge section and constructed in phases primarily between 1904 and 1959. During the 1940s and early 1950s, R. C. Biberstein Company made some improvements and designed additions.
WTremolite is a member of the amphibole group of silicate minerals with composition: Ca2(Mg5.0-4.5Fe2+0.0-0.5)Si8O22(OH)2. Tremolite forms by metamorphism of sediments rich in dolomite and quartz. Tremolite forms a series with actinolite and ferro-actinolite. Pure magnesium tremolite is creamy white, but the color grades to dark green with increasing iron content. It has a hardness on Mohs scale of 5 to 6. Nephrite, one of the two minerals of the gemstone jade, is a green variety of tremolite.
WUSG Corporation, also known as United States Gypsum Corporation, is an American company which manufactures construction materials, most notably drywall and joint compound. The company is the largest distributor of wallboard in the United States and the largest manufacturer of gypsum products in North America. It is also a major consumer of synthetic gypsum, a byproduct of flue-gas desulfurization. Its corporate offices are located at 550 West Adams Street in Chicago, Illinois.
WVermiculite is a hydrous phyllosilicate mineral which undergoes significant expansion when heated. Exfoliation occurs when the mineral is heated sufficiently, and commercial furnaces can routinely produce this effect. Vermiculite forms by the weathering or hydrothermal alteration of biotite or phlogopite. Large commercial vermiculite mines currently exist in the United States of America, Russia, South Africa, China, and Brazil.
WWittenoom is a declared contaminated site and former townsite 1,420 kilometres (880 mi) north-north-east of Perth in the Hamersley Range in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The declared contaminated site comprises 50,000 hectares, making it the "largest contaminated site in the southern hemisphere."