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English: 500px provided description: While medical evidence indicates that even brief exposure to asbestos can cause life-threatening respiratory illnesses such as lung cancer, asbestosis and mesothelioma, the consumption of contaminated products continues. According to an inventory (2011) of more than 60,000 asbestos-laden products, approximately 600 companies and suppliers operated worldwide. Concerns about the diseases caused by asbestos exposure prompted more than 50 nations to ban or severely restrict asbestos use, and the industry of Asbestos Products Manufacturers continues to thrive. Countries like Russia, China, Brazil and Kazakhstan still mine and sell massive quantities of the toxic mineral on a global scale.

Many of these asbestos-containing products are still in use, in home appliances (coffee pots, toasters, irons, popcorn poppers, and crock pots) and in portable heaters, portable dishwashers, wood burning stoves, gas-fired decorative logs. Asbestos was contained in most handheld hair dryers. These are but a small sampling of the thousands of products that contained asbestos.

Asbestos fibers are strong, durable, and resist heat, acids, and friction. They are virtually indestructible. Because of these useful physical properties, asbestos fibers were often combined with other materials for use in thousands of industrial, maritime, automotive, scientific and building products : Insulation, Textile and Cloth Products, Patching & Taping Compounds, Gaskets and Packings, Asbestos-cement Pipe and Sheet Material, Tiles, Wallboard, Siding and Roofing, Friction Materials (automotive and railroad brakes and clutches), Laboratory hoods and table tops. Asbestos may also be found in elevator brake shoes, elevator equipment panels, ductwork, electrical panel partitions, electrical cloth, cooling towers, and chalkboards. [#landscape ,#rock ,#plant ,#mountain ,#valley ,#cliff ,#hill ,#mine ,#scenic ,#mountain range ,#extreme terrain ,#asbestos]