The Use of Asbestos, Remediation of Contaminated Areas and the Risk of Impact on the Human Organism

The work deals with the uses of asbestos minerals, methods of safe disposal of asbestos and the disease burden caused by exposure to asbestos fibers, of which the most dangerous is crocidolite. Attention is paid to the physical-chemical and structural properties, classification and explanation of the processes of their formation, indicating areas of the Czech Republic and abroad. Describes the history of asbestos use since ancient times to the 20th century, including mass balance asbestos consumed in the technosphere that over the past hundred years, amounts to almost 194 million tons. It then focuses on building fire protection, insulation and other products with different content of asbestos in the world which total over 3000 and registered on the characteristics of asbestos substitute materials, such as ceramic, glass and carbon fibers, aramids, wollastonite, vermiculite and perlite. Describes methods for determination of asbestos fibers in the air, water and soil as a complete course of rehabilitation of contaminated objects. Asbestos fibers pose a risk to human health in the form of asbestosis, first diagnosed in 1900, pleural hyalinosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma of the pleura, where the first evidence of association with exposure to asbestos dates back to 1955 and on the basis of which..