i agree with you. i believe asbestos is unsafe and we should not be releasing more of into the environment by adding more of it to building materials and other

i agree with you. i believe asbestos is unsafe and we should not be releasing more of into the environment by adding more of it to building materials and other industrial products. but, a perhaps surprising thing about our lungs is that they can expel some of the inhaled asbestos fibers. but, in some people that's just not good enough: they still get sick. (another risk factor, smoking, increases one's chance of mesothelioma from inhaled asbestos fibers) asbestos fibers are everywhere. a very substantial fraction of US residents have some asbestos fibers in their lungs because of natural background levels and/or contamination of the urban environment by industrial asbestos from past decades. during the 9/11 attacks, significant quantities of asbestos became airborne in NYC. asbestos fibers are quite durable. they don't break down into safe substances or disappear from the environment on their own.