The dangers associated with asbestos exposure have been documented back to ancient times. But despite all we know about asbestos and its ability to cause dangerous diseases such as asbestosis and mesothelioma, it is still used around the world in construction projects. This puts thousands at risk of serious illness or death. Scientists in Italy recently published a study on the effects of asbestos exposure on employees at an asbestos cement plant in the southern Italian city of Naples and the results were quite startling. The scientists focused on 1,247 more...Despite being found guilty by an Italian court last week, Swiss billionaire Stephan Schmidheiny probably won’t serve his 16-year-long sentence for negligence associated with asbestos use in the business he used to run, the Eternit Group. Along with a Belgian businessman, Schmidheiny was given a sentence similar to those given to some convicted mass murderers in Europe. The prison term was also four years longer than the established maximums for the crime Schmidheiny committed. However, according to Forbes, legal analysts believe that appeals to the verdict and Schmidheiny’s high net worth will more...Over the course of a century, usage of the toxic substance asbestos in Europe has largely mirrored use of the material here in the United States. Many countries either have a ban or strict regulations on asbestos use, which has been the case for about 20 years. However, it was only this week that the first Europeans were convicted of crimes associated with the use of asbestos, which is known to cause deadly cancers such as mesothelioma. Previously, companies, not people, had been the only parties held accountable for asbestos-related damages. In Turin, Italy, a court has more...Today, the United States processes more than 2,200 metric tons of deadly asbestos materials each year. In our opinion, that's 2,200 metric tons too many, even though it is a significant drop compared to our usage 50 years ago. Although our country's widespread usage of asbestos has diminished significantly over the past three decades, the toxic product is still actively mined, sold and used in construction projects worldwide, particularly in Asia. According to data compiled by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, China and India, the two most populous countries on the planet, represented the two largest consumers of more...For decades people have been aware of the dangers of asbestos, but recent reports are beginning to suggest that there a is new mineral posing a similar public health hazard to the United States. Erionite, the mesothelioma-causing rock once thought to be only native to Turkey, has been found in large deposits throughout the western part of the U.S. Gravel that has been contaminated with erionite has been used for decades to pave a variety of things from roads to parking lots and public areas. Unfortunately, these findings beg the question: are we on the brink of another outbreak of asbestos-related more...