Posted on April 6, 2009 by by scoop

Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral fibre that was widely used in building materials up to 1985. The most commonly found building materials that contain asbestos are asbestos cement products.

The use of all forms of asbestos has been banned in Australia since 31 December 2003. Unfortunately we still have schools, government and private sector buildings and homes containing asbestos cement sheeting.

Do you know if your walls are made of asbestos cement  or not? if you are not sure and want to do some renovations then visit your government sites.

• ACT
• NSW
• Queensland
• Victoria
• NT
• SA

Di you also know in Britain, The annual report of the Chief Inspector of Factories reported as early as 1898 that asbestos had ‘easily demonstrated’ health risks. At about the same time, what was probably the first study of mortality among asbestos workers was reported in France.

Check this wikipedia page and you will find out more about asbestos and how long people have been reporting them as a dangerous product, however countries kept using asbestos until a few years ago, In 2002 the import of chrysotile (white) asbestos was banned in New Zeland. (that is not very long ago, right?)

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