Recently, I was watching television on a Sunday afternoon and I stumbled upon a television program that was highlighting the effects of mineral called asbestos. The program talked about the various uses of asbestos in construction; however, what the program focused exclusively on was the fact that when disturbed asbestos can wreck much havoc. The case in point was a demolition project at the old orange bowl. Persons working on the demolition project had to protect themselves from overexposing themselves to the massive amounts of asbestos used in building the orange bowl. The problem with asbestos is that when it is disturbed in cases like demolition, it can become especially dangerous.
Disturbed asbestos becomes dangerous because when it is inhaled it attaches itself to the lining of the lungs. This does not occur unless a person is exposed very often and over a long period of time. However, if a person does repeatedly expose themselves to asbestos, they can develop a dangerous type of cancer in their lungs.
The cancer that I am talking about is called mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is basically a tumor that develops in the lining of the lungs because of overexposure to asbestos fibers. The tough thing about mesothelioma is that the symptoms of the disease do not usually show themselves until years after the disease is contracted. This makes treating the disease difficult and places a greater importance on preventing exposure to asbestos.