I remember asbestos as a material which is often used for insulation from heat and fire. Asbestos is a material in other words very versatile that it has provided simple solutions to a host of problems. On account of it’s usefulness it’s being used by about 3000 products including textiles, building materials, roofing and flooring materials, insulation,vehicle brake linings to name a few.

The irony of it, is the health danger that asbestos material pose to the person it comes in contact with. There are various medical studies that could no longer be denied which relates asbestos to some lung cancer, mesothelioma, asbestosis and fibrosis.

To alleviate the health impact of the substance, governments have developed regulations regarding the controlled use. For example, there is a ban for asbestos use scheduled on 2008 in Japan. Governments are acting on this problem, but there is also a trend that the hazardous asbestos technology is being transferred to poor countries which is not good also.

There are many researches to find a substitute substance for asbestos, but the research are focused on certain applications only. The result is not very good as the result material is often inferior to that of asbestos and is expensive in comparison to asbestos which is relatively inexpensive as it is naturally abundant. As of the moment there is no substitute yet for asbestos. Maybe in the coming years there will be a technology breakthrough in having a material replacement for asbestos.