ABSTRACT
Public concern for the potentially severe health effects of asbestos escalated sharply in the 1970s with the declaration by the US Environmental Protection Agency that asbestos would be banned as a building material. Although fibrous minerals are extremely rare in nature, all the asbestos minerals are fibrous and have the potential for adverse human health effects. There is, however, another complicating factor uniquely related to asbestosis and lung cancer. Asbestos can enter the body via the skin, the digestive tract, and the respiratory tract. The skin can be pierced by spicules, splinters of asbestos fibers from the raw ore. If not properly tended, these can give rise to asbestos corns, which if present in sufficient numbers appear to induce an arthritis-like response, with clubbing of the fingers. Asbestos-related respiratory illness begins with the inspiration of air containing asbestos fibers.
