In case you’re planning to either sell or purchase a house that had been built before the 1980s, then you have to include the possibility of asbestos presence inside your home. Back in the earlier days (dating before the 1980s), asbestos was a very popular construction material. However, in today’s market, it’s considered to be a serious health hazard for normal human beings.
To help you know more about asbestos and the need for asbestos testing, we have formulated this comprehensive guide that you should go through in its entirety.
What Do You Mean By Asbestos And Why Should You Care For It?
According to a professional service provider for Nebraska home inspections, asbestos is a type of mineral fibre that was widely utilised in multiple types of products because of the following set of properties:
- Durability
- Heat Resistance
- Low Cost
However, all of the above-mentioned benefits came at a large cost and that being a potential human health hazard.
Is It Possible For Asbestos To Affect Human Health?
In case you’re not aware, then you must know that asbestos fibres tend to be odourless and microscopic. So, if these fibres are ingested or inhaled into the human body, then they can cause several health risks. For instance, when the asbestos fibres enter our body, they tend to get accumulated into the mucous membrane of the lungs, nose and human digestive tracts.
Some of the serious diseases that are related to asbestos are:
- Mesothelioma
This is a type of malignant tumour that directly affects the mesothelial tissue of the human body. The mesothelial tissue can be found inside the membrane lining of the lungs, abdomen and heart. Most of the times, mesothelioma is caused due to exposure of asbestos fibres.
Thus, people who are working in factories, mills or mines and are getting exposed to asbestos on daily basis, will have a much higher risk of contracting such a disease. Similarly, if asbestos is found inside a home, the residents will be subjected to similar risks too.
- Asbestosis
Asbestosis is a type of disease that’s caused due to extended exposure to asbestos fibre, which can lead to scarring of the human lungs. This is a chronic respiratory disease that directly results from asbestos fibres that are inhaled. Once these fibres are inhaled, they will cause inflammation in the human lungs. However, symptoms will only show after continuous exposure.
The bad news is that – asbestosis is not curable by any means. Some of the major complications that can happen due to asbestosis are lung cancer, heart failure and other related pulmonary diseases.
Such is the reason why it’s critical to carry out asbestos testing and thus prevent the onset of such health problems.
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