It also resists corrosion. Asbestos was so widely used because few other available substances combined the same qualities. In the past, asbestos was added to a variety of products to strengthen them and provide heat insulation and fire resistance. In most products, asbestos is combined with a binding material so that it is not readily released into the air (Asbestos 1).
Most products made today do not contain asbestos. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) have banned several asbestos products, and manufacturers have voluntarily agreed to limit the use of others. Any products made, that still contain asbestos, are required to be clearly labeled. However, many types of building products and insulation materials made before the 1970s contain asbestos. The production of asbestos-containing materials for home construction and use was banned, in three stages over seven years, beginning in 1990.
More than 3,000 products in use today contain asbestos. Most of these are materials used in heat and acoustic insulation, fireproofing, roofing, and in flooring. The amount of asbestos in these products varies from as little as one percent to as much as 100 percent. Many older plastic and paper products, brake linings, floor tiles, and textile products contain asbestos, as do many other heavy industrial products, such as sealants, cement pipes, cement sheets, and insulation. In 1989, the final Asbestos Ban and Phase-out Rule prohibited the manufacturer from the processing and the importing of most asbestos products. Also, it eventually will ban 94 percent of the asbestos used in the United States. .
Asbestos was first used in the United States in the early 1900's, to insulate steam engines. Until the early 1940's, asbestos was not used widely. However, after World War II, and for the next thirty years, people who constructed and renovated schools and other public buildings used asbestos and asbestos-containing materials (ACM) numerously.
