I’ve heard, MANY times, of the dangers of inhaling asbestos. Well, when I was growing up in Danville KY many years ago, they had asbestos in the drinking water - to the extent that you could hold the water up to a light and SEE the fibers. So what are the dangers of INGESTING asbestos, as opposed to inhaling it?
This is an interesting question.
As a physician (and teacher of physicians), I can say that we pay relatively little attention to asbsestos exposure other than via the lungs. This, of course, does not mean I’m correct. However, the evidence with which I’m familiar indicates that only aerolized asbestos fibres are a concern.
Why?
Asbestos is insoluble in water (as you note in your OP). So, it is not readily absorbed through the gut into the body. Further, asbestos fibres have to spend a long time in your body to cause cancer. This suggests that a brief transit through the gut would not be of much danger.
Here is a link to an (old) review of the issue. The abstract is fairly reassuring although I have not read the full article.
The asbestos institute says this (with refs):
I tend to believe them since IIRC the major risk factor from asbestos is mechanical irritation of lung tissue by the microscopic fibres of asbestos. They can’t be too irritating if they are covered with food, stomach goo (that’s NOT a technical term) etc.
None (or at least practically none) Asbestos is only dangerous if inhaled in fairly large amounts over realitively long periods of time. The fibers accumulate in the lungs and cause asbestosis, mesothelioma, or lung cancer.
Ingesting it is not known to have any long-term effects (beyond some acute trauma if you ingested a lot of it all at once).
I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it.
The problem is, of course, that water evaporates, leaving behind the fibers. Which then can become airborne, and get into your lungs.
I would be surprised if someone whose water contained a large amount of asbestos did not have some asbestos exposure.
Thanks or the quick responses (and the links) folks.
jk1245 - it’s been well over twenty years - I’m haven’t lost sleep over this in some time (now I lose sleep over other issues - like 'Why can’t I get to sleep?")
The main problem with the inhalation of friable asbestos is due to the small (microscopic) size of the fibers. The small particles get into the lungs and cause problems. I would think that the asbestos, being as small as it is, would cause problems no matter how you were exposed to it.
I don’t recall the exact numbers, but also note that there is a relatively narrow range in size that the fibers must be in order to get lodged in the lungs. Anything visible is definitely too large to get stuck. Of course, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a few of the smaller particles in the water as well … but there’s a lot more danger in breaking up a board in a building (which produces a lot of the right, or rather, wrong size particles) than in digging a chunk of asbestos out of the ground.
curious…how the heck did Danville KY get asbestos in its drinking water?!?
Here’s some pretty recent info:
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts61.html
Not much on ingested asbestos, other than:
I used to do asbestos litigation. Water in Northern California has asbestos in it and there is little risk. I say little, because it isn’t non-existent, but your chances of getting hit by lightening are a lot higher.
As noted above, the primary risk is heavy exposure in an industrial setting over many years. Those people are at risk of developing asbestosis, scarring of the lung tissue by the sharp tiny fibers that progressive ruin the elasticity of the lungs, making it difficult to breath. Due to the banning of asbestos in the United States and the many decades that have passed since this type of exposure was common, severe cases are now rare.
Certain cancers are also associated with asbestos exposure. Heavy industrial exposure combined with tobacco usage greatly increases the odds of getting cancer substantially. These are the same type of cancers one gets from smoking.
There is also a very rare type of cancer called mesothelioma that you can get from an unknown small amount of exposure, and some other unknown causes.
I was a kid whn I lived there - I don’t remember where it came from… although I think I remember Danville being mentioned as a major clean-up site by the EPA a few years later. Something for me to look into.
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In the early '60s, as a young kid at summer camp, I was given asbestos powder to mix with water in order to make a clay-like substance for modeling. There is no doubt in my mind about this. My memory is clear. Asbestos powder. And we were given it often. I even remember the industrial type sacks it came in with big letters running across: A-S-B-E-S-T-O-S. I have never heard of anyone developing problems from this*. Have you?
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[sup][sub]*For that matter, I’ve never heard of anyone else who remembers a similar experience.[/sub][/sup]
I was involved in trying two groups of plaintiffs’ cases this year.
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There is still a debate over whether or not ingesting asbestos (through water or, more commonly, phlegm and other outputs from the esophogaus (sp?)) leads to increased GI cancers, i.e. colon, stomach, etc. We certainly see proportionately more of those than the numbers would suggest.
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Don’t know about that “asbestos powder” but there were lots of refractory gunning/castable mixes that might have looked just like that. Think the spray-on stuff that they used on the steel girders of the WTC – WR Grace Monokote. Perhaps a little more granular than what you are describing but there were plenty of slurry-type compounds that started out as sacked/bagged materials.
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quote:
*For that matter, I’ve never heard of anyone else who remembers a similar experience.
Just mention it here in GQ 
I also remember using asbestos powder - in elementary school art classes in the '50’s.
Here’s a cite about using it in schools - though if someone’s warning current teachers, perhaps the material is still being used?
http://www.fhean.org/conference/health/07visualarts.html
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The danger of asbestos left alone is nothing. Let me repeat: unless you have long term heavy industrial exposure, you chances of being hit by lightening are much, much higer than developing asbestos related disease. That includes incidental exposure in the air, water, food, and buildings. It is all a big scare unless you have long term heavy industrial exposure. Nobody gets that anymore in the United States. The big scare allows “speciality contractors” to make a ton of money for removing things while in spacesuits. (Note: if they didn’t have the suits on, and they removed this stuff in a very sloppy fasion (so it looked like it was snowing) for 5 to 10 years, they then would stand a chance of getting asbestosis, a progressive disease that makes it more difficult to breath, decades later. If you want to act like weirded out freaks over dangerous substances you are exposed to, second hand tobacco smoke is a lot more dangerous.
Thanks! I feel vindicated.
I disagree. Although the risk is small, even a several month exposure to heavy concentrations of asbestos is associated with increased rates of certain cancers (mesotheliomas).
I do agree, though, that asbestosis requires years of exposure to develop, but that is a different condition.
Wouldn’t the asbestos become airborne in the shower, and be breathed in that way?
Seems like the little fibers would get broken up and some would get airborne and you’d get respiratory exposure.
There was a good article in Scientific American a few years ago about historical uses for asbestos, and you wouldn’t believe some of the things people used to do with it. They put it in toothpaste, for one. Also, in ancient times people at public events could rent asbestos handkerchiefs. The handkerchiefs were then burned cleaned in a fire so they could be reused. I don’t think either one of those applications is all that dangerous to the end user, but they’re hard to imagine today.