Asbestos is the name for thin fibers produced during the processing of the mineral serpentine. The threads are strong and resistant to heat. Longer asbestos fibers could be spun into threads and then woven with other materials, such as cotton, to create fire-resistant fabrics. Shorter asbestos fibers were once used in the production of building materials, such as insulation and roofing tiles, and car parts, such as brake pads and gaskets. Asbestos added strength and heat resistance to products that must perform under extremely hot conditions.

Asbestos had been produced in small quantities for centuries, but it did not become commercially viable until the late nineteenth century. In the 1860s and 1870s, asbestos began to be extracted and processed on a large scale from mines in Italy and Quebec, Canada. A century later, Canada, the United States, and the Soviet Union were the world’s main producers of asbestos. By the mid-twentieth century, asbestos was an essential ingredient in any safety- or building-related product that needed to be both heat-resistant and durable.

By the late twentieth century, however, asbestos began to be associated with serious health risks, particularly lung cancer. Researchers eventually discovered the link between breathing in fibers of asbestos and a fatal form of respiratory cancer called asbestosis. Governments around the world began to regulate the processing and use of asbestos in order to reduce exposure. At first, the regulation in the United States was designed to protect asbestos workers, but by the late 1980s, new regulations were in place to eliminate the commercial use of asbestos altogether. Today asbestos is banned in the United States. No one may produce, sell, use or export materials containing asbestos. Other materials have since been developed to take the place of asbestos in building and safety materials and other industrial products.