I’ve been exposed to asbestos….?
I dry-scraped about 200 vinyl-asbestos tiles without protection. I'm really scared right now because of this. The worst part is that I won't know t...
I dry-scraped about 200 vinyl-asbestos tiles without protection.
I'm really scared right now because of this. The worst part is that I won't know till 10-40 years from now if I will get cancer or anything.
I know now that I've been exposed to asbestos, I cannot get rid of it and my risk of getting disease or cancer has increased. I'm reaaaallllyyyy scared right now.
I really hope it's not as bad as I think
For starters; stop worrying. It won’t help and the fact is you will probably never develop asbestosis. There are different types of asbestos, so are you sure that it was the one that has been linked with asbestosis? Also, you have probably been exposed to considerably more carcinogenic risk factors through your life but haven’t been aware of it, such as the food we eat, smoke, electromagnetic radiation, mobile phones, etc……….. None of which mean you will get cancer, just as you don’t know if you will be injured in some accident, which could be as likely.
My dad was recently diagnosed with asbestosis at 89, after working in an asbestos laden car manufacturing plant for over 20 years! Highly likely that he would be effected, but it took some time to develop.
I think with your one off exposure, you would do well to worry about many other factors that could effect your health, if you really want something to worry about.
Relax!!
As you hope, it’s almost certain far from as bad as you think and it’s highly unlikely that you’re doomed to a painful death due to asbestoses.
Asbestos dust – and a particular form of asbestos at that – is a real danger, but the fibers in vinyl tiles are held together by the plastic unless you do something like grind or sand the tiles. Which would normally be a strange, slow and labor-intensive way of stripping tiles.
The earlier responder said some wise things about how most of us are exposed to a lot of potentially carcinogenic substances every day. I don’t think it’s very helpful – unless you want to sell newspapers or win a lawsuit – to focus on every tiny risk we come across.
Try to relax. There’s nothing we can do about things we’ve already done, so the best we can do is take the lessons we need to learn from the experience and move on.
You’ve been reading or watching too many commercials about mesothelioma . . read a little bit more about exposure to asbestos . . everyone is exposed to it at some time or the other. It is people who are exposed to asbestos on the job on a regular basis that are more at risk . . than a one time occurence. Read more about Asbestos exposure at the National Cancer Institute:
NCI: Facts about Asbestos Exposure Questions and Answers
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/asbestos