Some people become aware of the existence of asbestos when they undertake home renovations. Until that point, it hasn’t affected their life in any way and wasn’t a cause for concern.

However, that can all change as soon as you start ripping into asbestos vinyl or tearing down Super Six asbestos-cement sheet roofing materials. It’s at that point that you might learn about asbestos and ask the question: when was asbestos invented? We can answer that question and others below.

Who Invented Asbestos?

It’s only natural to ask who invented asbestos so that you can lay the tens of thousands of asbestos-related deaths squarely on their shoulders. The truth is; no one invented asbestos. It’s a naturally occurring mineral that exists on every single continent in the world.

We can’t even lay the blame on any one person’s shoulders for using it in products we use in everyday life because its use dates back hundreds of thousands of years. Archeologists even found asbestos fibres dating back to the Stone Age, and they believe the fibres were used as wicks in candles and lamps as early as 4000 BC.

Who Started Using Asbestos?

Archeologists think that asbestos was used in the ancient world and Middle Ages, with it being manufactured into clay pots and cloth. However, you can blame your great, great, great grandparents for its commercialization and widespread use in our modern world.

The asbestos industry really started thriving around the late 1800s with the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. It was becoming well known for its versatility in a wide variety of applications, so mining and manufacturing took off. We were living, breathing, and dreaming about asbestos.

Largely, this was because much of what powered the Industrial Revolution was boilers, steam engines, electrical generators, turbines, and ovens. The chemical, heat, electricity, and water resistance of asbestos made it the golden standard product.

The Mining Boom

Word was getting out. Asbestos was great, and every country wanted to be a part of the action. In the early 19th century, Free State, Africa, found blue asbestos, and then Thetford Township in southeastern Quebec discovered white asbestos in 1876.

Not long after, Canada created the world’s first commercial asbestos mines and joined Russia in excavating chrysotile, white asbestos, which is found in over 95 per cent of all asbestos products.

Mines started popping up everywhere from that point on. Germany, England, and Scotland found their feet in this industry, and Italy had already been mining tremolite asbestos for many years by this stage.

In the 1880s, Australia started mining asbestos in New South Wales, and Finland got on board with anthophyllite asbestos mining in the early 1900s. Transvaal, South Africa, followed on with the discovery of amosite, brown asbestos, and Swaziland and Zimbabwe became known for their chrysotile mines.

Who Still Wants and Uses Asbestos?

The asbestos mining industry started with a hiss, roar, and a bang, but then people started dying. There was a decline in demand for it by the late 1970s as more and more people began to realise how dangerous it was.

Trade unions started demanding safer working conditions, and liability claims were made against asbestos manufacturers. New environment regulations pushed for a complete or partial ban of asbestos in 17 countries by 2003, and it was banned throughout the EU by 2005. Iceland was the first country to ban asbestos imports in 1983, and Sweden followed.

However, even though it’s now banned in 55 countries, it’s still permitted in China, Russia, India, Canada, and the United States. Russia is the top producer, mining around a million metric tonnes in 2015.

Most of the western world no longer uses asbestos, but it is still used. India and China produce many different products with asbestos and use hundreds of thousands of metric tonnes annually. Unfortunately, some of these products do end up in western countries.

Even though most countries are no longer producing it or importing it, millions of tonnes of asbestos remain in buildings around the world – including here in Aotearoa.

Where Can You Find Asbestos?

An easier question to ask would be, where can’t asbestos be found? WorkSafe has created a long list of asbestos-contaminated products and materials that might be lurking in the average pre-2000 built home. These include flooring, walls, roofing, plumbing and electrical components, and even insulation.

What Can We Do About Asbestos?

There is no way to solve our asbestos problem overnight, especially when we’ve learned that no one is responsible for inventing it. However, we can all play a part in correcting some of our mistakes.

The next time you carry out home repairs, take the time to request asbestos testing. If this hazardous natural mineral is present, you can enlist the services of an asbestos removal team to remove it safely and dispose of it responsibly.