Asbestos a Risk During Home Improvement
Article Added February 25th, 2006 - Print This Story - Bookmark This Story
For the do-it-yourself enthusiast, there are new worries over the horizon besides a cooling property market. Asbestos exposure poses serious health problems for those home owners who choose to do renovations on their own.
The craze for home improvements could be putting people at risk for asbestos related diseases, according to medical experts. Doctors believe that an epidemic of mesothelioma will settle in to America and Britain within the next decade, which will kill thousands of people a year. Along with the deadly lung cancer, emphysema cases could also increase due to repeat exposure. From prognosis to death, mesothelioma on average takes just nine months to take a life. Every year, more than 1,800 people die from the lung cancer, and the number is expecting to triple over the next five years.
Asbestos was commonly used before the early 1970’s in building insulation and hardware, which is now posing problems to those who are renovating property on their own. The asbestos in a solid form breaks down over time, converting to the deadly dust that causes most asbestos-related disease. Though most property built after 1975 may be safe, strict restrictions were not introduced until the mid-1980s in regards to usage. Often people think that homes that contained asbestos had it removed during the 1970s, a potentially deadly assumption.
Article Added February 25th, 2006 - Print This Story - Bookmark This Story
- Ron Eddins, Founding Partner
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