What are the dangers of asbestos and the health implications of exposure?
Many people who live in homes with asbestos-containing material or who have had asbestos exposure worry about it affecting their health. It is essential to understand that most fatalities deriving from exposure to asbestos stems from prolonged exposure to high quantities of asbestos fibers without adequate protection. The asbestos material was usually in raw forms, such as in places where workers manufacture products with asbestos, mining, milling, and insulation production.
The effects of asbestos on your lungs
The lungs are the primary organ to be negatively affected by prolonged exposure to high quantities of asbestos fibers. When you breathe in air, it passes through your mouth and nose into your trachea—also known as the windpipe. Your windpipe splits into two smaller airways called the bronchi. Each of the bronchi divides into even smaller tubes that terminate into air sacs called the alveoli—you can think of ravioli to remember this word. The alveoli air sacs are where oxygen is absorbed into small blood vessels, and waste gases—carbon dioxide—pass out of the blood.
You have likely seen images showing what your lungs look like; it is divided into two halves and sits in the pleural cavity. A membrane called the “pleura” forms the lining of the cavity and lung. Damage to these linings may cause the inability to inhale and fill the lungs with air.
Airways employ a hair-like lining called “ciliated cells,” which act as filters and repeatedly beat upward. The process begins with substantial particles removed in the nose and mouth, and smaller particles touch on the mucous-coated wall of the airways and are caught. Once captured in the mucous, particles then move to the back of the mouth and are dislodged or swallowed. As mentioned above, the cilia’s function can be impeded by cigarette smoking. This act temporarily disables the cilia cells’ ability to perform this symphony, which defends your body from undesirable debris. Secretion pooling in the lungs is due to ill-functioning cilia. The air-like cells resume their work during sleep when cigarette smoking is not present; these cells are now able to carry copious amounts of mucous to the back of your mouth; this is what causes what is known as a smokers’ cough after sleep.
Smokers are the group at highest risk of asbestos-related illnesses and lung cancer. After lighting up a couple of cigarettes, they disable the cilia again, preventing coughing out the mucous.
If you are a smoker and believe that you live around asbestos fibers, seek advice from your doctor. And suppose you think your home may contain asbestos and would like to have the suspected asbestos-containing material tested for its presence, you can search for and find an asbestos testing lab to analyze the ACM—asbestos-containing material for you. Just collect the sample yourself and mail it in for analysis under PLM microscopy. Some labs can get you the results anywhere from two-weeks to as quickly as same-day service, at an affordable price. And if your samples test positive for asbestos, you can contact your local building department for a list of certified asbestos abatement contractors to remove the material for you.
Where can I send a sample for asbestos testing?
Mail-in asbestos testing:
5 Microns Inc.
7100 Fort Dent Way #100
Tukwila, WA 98188
IMPORTANT-MUST READ FIRST: All mail-in samples must have a tracking number and include our asbestos chain of custody form to be processed. If the chain of custody form is missing, your sample(s) will not be accepted and processed. Drop-offs MUST have the COC form inside your package but not in the sample bag. DO NOT MAIL YOUR SAMPLES BY FIRST CLASS MAIL. Send your sample(s) via USPS Priority Mail, UPS, and FedEx. It is essential to closely follow these directions so our asbestos testing lab can promptly process your sample(s).
*PLEASE NOTE FOR ALL DROP-OFFS: All samples must be dropped off at the back of the office building located at 7100 Fort Dent Way Tukwila WA outside the Tabor 100 Office and placed inside the black drop-box pictured below. Do not take your samples to the front desk. The front desk will not accept drop-offs over the counter, NO EXCEPTIONS
5 Microns Inc. Sample Drop Box
