Cassiar Asbestos and Modern Living

The remaining five principal types are members of the Amphibole class and include
Crocidolite, Amosite, Anthophylite, Tremolite and Actinolite — these last two hav-
ing little commercial significance. Each of these six types of asbestos has distinct
chemical and physical properties. To add to the complexity, Chrysotile asbestos from
one Canadian mine will have different chemical and physical properties than Chrysotile
from any other Canadian mine.

It was not until 1873 that science and industry began to seriously examine the
unique properties of asbestos and apply its virtues to the service of mankind. Today,
many different products in use throughout the world contain a portion of asbestos. It can
be spun into thread and woven into cloth. Some grades can be made into paper. It
withstands high temperatures and pressures. It resists weather, corrosion, vermin and
fungi. It insulates and filters, binds and fills. Its many applications have saved countless
lives and have prevented billions of dollars of property damage.

An Industry is Born

The first factory to produce asbestos products was established in Russia during the
reign of Peter the Great. While the enterprise was not an outstanding success, it did
produce an assortment of asbestos gloves, handbags and socks.

Today, Italy is recognized as the ‘Cradle of the Asbestos Industry”’ because it was
there, in the 19th century, that the mining and milling of asbestos and the manufacture
of asbestos products began on an industrial scale. During the next fifty years the
technology required to produce asbestos thread, fabrics, paper, and other industrial and
domestic products, slowly emerged. In 1878 a variety of asbestos products were
displayed at the Universal Exposition in Paris, an event which gave wide publicity to
asbestos and its growing importance as a servant of mankind. This event was followed
by a period of intensive development of both asbestos products and the technology
required to produce them.

Early commercial asbestos applications mainly involved asbestos textiles from
which fireproof coats, shoes, gloves and helmets were produced. These were followed
by the development of life saving theatre equipment, including fireproof curtains and
drapes. Late in the 19th century the emergence of the automotive industry generated
an unprecedented demand for asbestos products, in the form of brake linings, gaskets,
and clutch plates, which have become so much the part of our everyday living that little

thought is given to the indispensible support asbestos continues to provide modern
transportation.

Through those early years, the range of asbestos products continued to expand.
The unique qualitites of asbestos fibre offered manufacturers endless Opportunities to
fabricate new products, spin new yarns, weave new fabrics, mould new materials. It is
estimated that today some 3,000 industrial and domestic products containing asbestos
are produced by manufacturers throughout the world.

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