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Asbestos

"Asbestos" is the name of a group of similar minerals with separable, long, and thin fibers. Asbestos has long been suspected as a health threat to humans, because the fibers can be inhaled and are difficult to remove from the lungs. Although the use of asbestos and asbestos products has dramatically decreased, they are still found in many residential and commercial settings and continue to pose a health risk to workers and others.

General Information

Asbestos Exposure and Your Health
Provides an overview of Asbestos from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)

NIOSH Safety and Health Topic: Asbestos
Provides recommendations for preventing occupational exposure, information on asbestos abatement, home contamination, sampling and analysis, surveillance, more...

What Is Asbestos?
Includes types of Asbestos, how people are exposed, asbestos detection, more...

Health Effects of Exposure to Asbestos
Provides information on Asbestosis, pleural abnormalities, Mesothelioma and other heath risks and conditions associated with Asbestos

Diagnosis and Treatment of Asbestos-Related Illnesses
Includes ways to detect lung and pleural disease and discusses treatment for asbestos-related diseases.

Asbestos Exposure in Libby, Montana
In 1999, The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) was asked by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to evaluate human health concerns in Libby that were related to asbestos exposure. This page provides an overview of related ATSDR Activities.

ATSDR Resources and Studies on Asbestos
Provides inks to ATSDR publications on Asbestos.

World Trade Center Asbestos Findings
Includes the fact sheet, executive summary, and full report of ATSDR air and dust sampling in the Lower Manhattan area after the September 11th tragedy.

National Asbestos Exposure Review
The National Asbestos Exposure Review (NAER) is an ATSDR project to evaluate sites that received and processed vermiculite mined in Libby, Montana.

Featured Items:

ToxFAQsTM for Asbestos
An ATSDR fact that answers the most frequently asked questions about asbestos.

NIOSH Recommendations for Limiting Potential Exposures of Workers to Asbestos Associated with Vermiculite from Libby, Montana
NIOSH Fact Sheet answers questions about Vermiculite and Asbestos.

Surveillance Activities:

NIOSH Worker Health Chartbook, 2004 - Respiratory Diseases
Since 1991 NIOSH has compiled, summarized, and disseminated surveillance data on occupational respiratory diseases. This section provides selected surveillance data for many of these diseases.

The Work-Related Lung Disease Surveillance Report, 2002
The sixth of a series, the WoRLD Report 2002 provides information on work-related respiratory diseases and associated exposures and describes where diseases are occurring, who is affected, how frequently they occur, and temporal trends.

Sampling and Analysis

NIOSH Manual of Analytical Methods (NMAM), 4th edition
DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 94-113 (1994)
NMAM is a collection of methods for sampling and analysis of contaminants in workplace air, and in the blood and urine of workers who are occupationally exposed. These methods have been developed or adapted by NIOSH or its partners and have been evaluated according to established experimental protocols and performance criteria.

  • Method #7400 - Asbestos and Other Fibers by PCM
     PDF  140 KB (15 pages)  
  • Method #7402 - Asbestos by TEM
     PDF  37 KB (7 pages)  
  • Method #9000 - Asbestos, Chrysotile by XRD
     PDF  42 KB (6 pages)  
  • Method #9002 - Asbestos (bulk) by PLM
     PDF  175 KB (9 pages)  

 

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