The term “asbestos” comes from a Greek word that means “unquenchable” or “indestructible.” The term can be used to refer to a group of mineral fibers that share properties of chemical and thermal resistance. It is also flexible and has a high tensile strength. Because of its many useful properties, asbestos has been referred to as the “magic mineral.” It has been incorporated into over 3,000 different products used in industry or households.
Even though asbestos has been used in a variety of products during the Industrial Revolution (and continues to be used in many products today!), modern industry was not the first to use this hazardous mineral. Asbestos use can be traced back to around 2500 B.C., when it was used in the manufacture of Finnish pottery. One of the earliest accounts of asbestos use, during the fourth to fifth centuries B.C, was for the wick of a gold lamp crafted for the goddess Athena. During this same time period, cloth made of asbestos was used as a funerary cloth to retain the ashes of the dead during cremation. According to Pliny, asbestos was also used in a similar fashion in the funeral dress of kings during this time. In a dramatic show, Emperor Charlemagne is said to have displayed a tablecloth made from asbestos that was used during great feasts. After the feast, the cloth and its contents would be thrown into a fire, and the cloth would then be removed unharmed to the amazement of his guests! In the year 1250, Marco Polo made reference to a cloth in the northern provinces of the Great Khan. It had the property of being unconsumed and purified in fire.
Around 1720, industrial uses of asbestos began on a limited scale shortly after the discovery of relatively large deposits of asbestos in the Ural Mountains in western Russia. The discovery of these deposits led to the establishment of factories making asbestos products. The products included handbags, gloves, socks, and textiles. In the following years, discoveries of different types of asbestos were made on several continents, setting the stage for many uses of asbestos.
In 1860, chrysotile asbestos was discovered in Quebec, Canada. Mining of these chrysotile deposits started in 1878, with fifty tons being produced during this mine’s first year of operation. In 1815, crocidilite asbestos was discovered in South Africa. Mining of larger amounts of South African fibers began around 1910. Another type of asbestos called amosite was discovered in central Transvaal in 1907, and the mining operations began in approximately 1916. The beginning of mining operations, along with the Industrial Revolution, set the stage for the use of asbestos and the public health crises that resulted.
Source: Pathology of Asbestos-Related Diseases (Victor L. Roggli et al. eds., 2004)