What does «Amianto y Asbesto» mean in Spanish?
- Trade names applied to chrysotile, a variety of serpentine, and to certain minerals of the amphibole group, characterized by their fibrous and crystalline structure and their extraordinary fire resistance. Asbestos is a variety of asbestos with flexible and silky fibers. Chrysotile is a hydrated magnesium silicate. It is found in large deposits in Canada, South Africa and the Urals. The main sources of asbestos in the amphibole group are Actinote, a ferric variety of tremolite, and Hornblende, a complex silicate of several metals. However, 95% of commercial asbestos is obtained from chrysotile. Asbestos was already used in Roman times, when it was called amiantus. Roman amiantus was probably amphibole asbestos from the Alps. Quite possibly these brittle fibers were the ones that the Romans wove with linen wefts to make shrouds for their dead. In this way they were able to recover the ashes after the bodies had been cremated on the funeral pyre. Plutarch cites the use of asbestos in the wicks of the vestals' lamps and Marco Polo refers to its use in the 13th century. Although the commercial importance of asbestos dates back many years, it was not until the 19th century that asbestos began to be explored on a universal scale. The result of this research was the discovery of the world's largest asbestos mine in Quebec (Canada). Since then, the exploitation and commercial application of asbestos has multiplied, and today, in one form or another, it is indispensable in the electrical and industrial fields. Medical authorities have shown that asbestos/asbestos-related products cause cancer with a high mortality rate since the 1980s. In the early 2000s, it began to be banned in developed countries and has been totally banned in the European Union since 2005, although it continues to be used in some developing countries.