Question on Asbestos (short exposure?)?
Hi
This might sound like a silly question but anyway – I was at a place in school where I shouldn’t of been (bad, I know!) – it’s a small room filled with pipes and so on. I noticed that there boxes marked "CONTAINS ABESTOS" – overall, I spent about 30 minutes in the room about 5 times (so…6 hours over time). I don’t know if the asbestos was exposed and I did not touch or open the boxes. The only time I was near the boxes was when I noticed the warning sign.
At such a short exposure is it possible that I could have asbestos cancer in later life? I know it is of course possible but I’m sort of interested in a "very unlikely but still possible" reply (or if that isn’t the case…what you think!)
Thanks
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2 comments
quijibored on May 15, 2010 at 1:44 am
As long as you did not disturb the taping on the pipes and then sniff the asbestos underneath then you have zero danger. You might be surprised to know how many of the schools, commercial buildings and millions of homes built between 1935 and 1990 used lots of asbestos and asbestos containing components in their construction.
Most popcorn ceilings in homes and apartments built in the 50s and 60s contain a high level of asbestos. One house where I was working on the ceiling in was tested and the popcorn ceiling we were removing without masks tested as 25% asbestos. That was 20 years ago and according to my pulmonologist that I see for asthma my lungs show no asbestos damage. While asbestos is nasty stuff and to be avoided it is chronic exposure in confined spaces that is truly dangerous.
The people that develop mesothelioma, which is actually a fairly rare type of cancer, worked daily installing those asbestos pipes and sheeting in confined work areas like ships. My relative who worked on large barges told me about regularly using sheets of asbestos to stop his welding sparks from creating fires while he was working inside these large barges. He suffered no lung damage but he was very fortunate. Most of the people who were heavily exposured to asbestos during the WW2 era are already dead from one cause or another. Another way to get severe asbestos exposure was working daily with powdered vermiculite while doing commercial gardening since vermiculite is a type of asbestos and the dust can be quite deadly if inhaled on a regular basis.
Government rules say that asbestos in ceilings or pipes should not be disturbed in any way and only removed following specific regulations and while wearing the proper equipment. Asbestos is an example of something once considered a miracle substance that turned out to be much more dangerous and deadly than anyone every thought. As time goes by we will find many more such substances like the piles of radioative waste currently sitting around the country with no truly safe depository to help keep this stuff safe and contained.
If you want to read about a true asbestos mess then google Libby Montana and zonolite for some serious reading.
http://www.asbestosnetwork.com/news/nw_051702_libby_zonolite.htm
http://www.mesothel.com/pages/libby_History.htm
b on May 15, 2010 at 1:44 am
In theory, it only takes one fiber to cause cancer. It is possible that a very short exposure could cause cancer.
The "contains asbestos" signs are a required warning sign. If you go to an older school and were in a mechanical room with lots of pipes, etc., there is a good chance they were all insulated with asbestos.
There is a reason you are not supposed to be in there and I suggest that you find somewhere else to hide and do whatever it is you have been doing. But as long as you weren’t messing with stuff and stirring up a lot of dust, you should be OK. Trouble is, there is really no way to know for about 20 years.