Designed to last a lifetime, a trouble-free lifetime.

Those are the haunting words of a TV ad that actively promoted asbestos as a must-have building material for homes and businesses. As it turns out, it didn’t promote a trouble-free lifetime. It promoted death.

It’s a proven fact that the natural mineral asbestos is hazardous for your health. It’s a carcinogen and has been directly linked to several medical conditions, including cancer. In fact, it’s that dangerous, that any homeowner looking to remove it from their home in New Zealand has to leave it in the capable hands of asbestos removal experts. It’s simply too dangerous to risk mishandling.

However, even though asbestos is linked with the death of hundreds of thousands of people and is banned in 60 countries, the industry is still alive and well, particularly in Russia.

Asbest, a city in Russia, is one of the world’s largest producers of asbestos and mines at least half a million tonnes of it every year. Miners who work at the mine, owned by Uralasbest, use dynamite in the mining process, spreading deadly fibres into the air in the process.

While you might see asbestos removal experts in New Zealand wearing top-to-toe protective gear, you’ll see mine workers in Asbest not even wearing a face mask. According to some townspeople, “it’s not as dangerous as they make it out to be”.

We know for a fact that it is.

So, why is the asbestos industry still thriving?

According to residents, journalists who have visited, and experts, the city relies on it. The mine is a tourist attraction that has been booming since the Soviet era, and it provides around 70 per cent of the town’s income.

The mine supports and sponsors Asbest, and there’s a sense of pride in having an industry. So much so, that one of the town’s monuments is made purely from asbestos. According to one person who was interviewed in a documentary on the asbestos industry in Russia, there’s a great dependence on it.

“If the factory is not there, there will be no city. We all depend on it. If it closes, you may as well move.”

There is also a great ignorance in Russia and other parts of the world about its dangers. Many people believe because they haven’t got sick, it doesn’t cause sickness. Even doctors are not all that phased by it, including oncologists who see the effects in many patients they treat.

In reality, it’s responsible for many health conditions, such as lung cancer, mesothelioma, and asbestosis.

What may not make sense is how there is still demand for the material when quite a few countries want nothing to do with the material. Unfortunately, developing countries are seeing the value in the affordable building products that come from it, regardless of the sacrifice of life that might follow.

China used over half a million metric tons of it in 2013, while Russia remains the second-largest consumer of it, too. Kazakhstan was one of the fourth-largest producers and even used asbestos-contaminated products to build houses, schools, hospitals, and products. However, asbestos regulations are becoming more widely known here.

India no longer mines the toxic material, but it imports it and uses around four million metric tonnes of it in its cement roofing. With over 1.2 billion people living in India, the health consequences in the years to come are expected to be quite substantial.

Products that may contain asbestos

Hold on, asbestos is banned in dozens of countries, so how can it be found in products? Because when you include asbestos in the creation of over 3,000 products at the height of its use, it can take some time to get rid of it. What’s more, small amounts of it are still allowed in some products produced today. For example, in the United States, up to one per cent of asbestos in a product is allowed!

It can be found in building materials throughout the world, especially homes built before 1990 in New Zealand. It’s also in ceiling tiles, roofing shingles, tiling, vinyl flooring, adhesives and caulk, and even insulation.

But outside of the realm of building products, asbestos was making its mark. Even today, it can be found in car parts such as brakes (including shoes, linings, and pads), clutch linings and facings, disc and drum brakes, and transmission plates.

If you inherited mum’s old ironing board from between 1930 and 1970, then there’s a chance that asbestos is lurking in that too. Not to mention oven mitts, fire blankets, crock pots, and hair dryers from the same era.

New Zealand is doing better

It can be hard to wrap your head around the notion that the asbestos industry is thriving. Here in New Zealand, we frequently call in asbestos removal experts to make sure we don’t expose ourselves, our families, and neighbours to potential risks.

On the other side of the world, asbestos is being mined without protection, and countries are using it for housing because of its affordability. We are more ahead of other countries than we might have thought. Therefore, we can be proud that a small country like ours is doing all it can to protect its residents.