Asbestos history: from miracle mineral to banned substance
How 'the indestructible' mineral became construction's favourite — and then its great health scandal
Few materials have as dramatic a history as asbestos. For millennia the fine mineral fibers were admired as a wonder material that couldn't burn and could withstand almost anything. Today it is banned, feared, and associated with one of the greatest occupational health scandals in recent times. The story of asbestos is a warning about how long it can take from a material being used until the danger becomes recognized — and why the trade today takes the fibers so seriously.
§Antiquity: 'the inextinguishable'
Asbestos has been used since ancient times. The name itself comes from Greek and means something like 'inextinguishable' — an allusion to the fact that the material could not burn up. Greeks and Romans wove asbestos fibers into cloth lamp wicks and shrouds that could withstand fire and the story of the cloth that was cleaned by being thrown in fire is tied to this very mineral.
The Roman author Pliny the Elder described in the 1st century CE how those who worked with the mineral became ill. The observation was written down but not understood, and asbestos continued to be a sought-after material for centuries precisely because it resisted fire and heat better than anything else known.
§Industrialisation: asbestos becomes a mass product
Large-scale asbestos mining really only took off in the late 1800s when industrialization set in. Suddenly the mineral could be extracted and processed in enormous quantities, and its properties suited the new era's needs perfectly: it was strong, heat-resistant, insulated against both heat and sound and was cheap. Asbestos was mixed into cement for building boards, used for pipe insulation, floor coverings, roof tiles, fire protection and gaskets. In much of the 1900s asbestos was found everywhere in construction.
In Denmark and the Nordic countries especially eternit — asbestos cement for roof and facade panels — became a well-known and widespread material. This is the legacy the profession still encounters today: large quantities of asbestos still sit in buildings from before the bans and it is when these materials are torn down or processed that the danger arises.
§The realisation: doctors find the connection.
In the early 1900s doctors began finding the first sure signs of asbestos dangers. Over time studies showed that a large part of the most exposed workers became ill after many years of work and the connection between inhaling fibres and serious lung diseases — including asbestosis and later pleural mesothelioma — was established. Particularly tragic was the long latency period: decades could pass from when fibres were inhaled until the disease broke out. This made the danger easy to underestimate and delayed the response.
§The bans: step by step out of construction
The realisation led to a gradual phase-out. In Denmark, the first restrictions came in 1972 when asbestos was banned in products for heat, sound and moisture insulation. The ban was later expanded and in 1986 Denmark banned virtually all use of asbestos including the production of asbestos cement. The development followed a pattern seen in many countries: bans that came step by step as evidence accumulated. The whole of the EU had banned asbestos by 2005 at the latest.
| Period | What happened |
|---|---|
| Antiquity | Greeks and Romans weave asbestos into fireproof cloth, wicks and shrouds |
| 1st century CE | Plinius den Ældre beskriver, at arbejderne bliver syge — uden at forstå hvorfor |
| End of the 1800s | Industrial mass extraction begins; asbestos is mixed with cement and insulation |
| Most of the 1900s | Asbestos everywhere in construction: eternit pipe insulation fire protection gaskets |
| The beginning of the 1900s | Lægerne finder de første sikre tegn på asbestens sundhedsfarer |
| 1972 (Danmark) | Ban on asbestos in thermal sound and moisture insulation |
| 1986 (Danmark) | Almost all use of asbestos is prohibited, including asbestos cement |
| Senest 2005 (EU) | Asbestos banned throughout the EU |
| Today | Asbestos remains in older buildings; remediation is a specialized regulated trade |
§Asbestos work today
Even though asbestos has been banned for decades it is far from gone. Large quantities still sit in buildings from before the bans and each time such buildings are renovated or demolished the asbestos must be handled responsibly. That is why asbestos work today has become a specialised and heavily regulated trade: the work is planned based on how dusty it is the material is mapped before demolition and it is kept moist and removed as much as possible to limit fibre release. Respiratory protection with suitable filters disposable suits and controlled removal are used and waste is tightly packaged and disposed of as hazardous waste.
The rules have continued to be tightened right up to today – including requirements that certain types of asbestos removal can only be carried out by authorised companies. The long history from ancient admiration to today's authorisation requirements contains core experience for the whole profession: a material can seem harmless for generations and still cause damage that only becomes apparent decades later. That's the experience behind every single precaution an asbestos removal service takes today.
“Asbestos was admired for two thousand years for resisting fire — and it took nearly just as long to understand that it was the fibers in the air not the flames that were the danger.”