Asbestos: world concern, involvement and culpability

The general population is exposed to asbestos fibers stemming from a massive number of consumer products and from environmental pollution. Asbestos bodies are present in the lungs of many urban dwellers who do not work with the mineral. Heavy occupational exposure to asbestos is known to cause asbestosis, pleural calcification, pleural plaques, lung cancer, and pleural and peritoneal mesotheliomas. The ingestion of asbestos fibers may increase the risk of gastrointestinal tract cancer. At the present time, little is known about the hazards of chronic low‐level exposure to asbestos. However, the use of asbestos fibers should be curtailed whenever possible, more pathogenicity data should be collected and evaluated, and the health risk to the general public should be reassessed and updated with progressing research.