Types of Asbestos Injury
Occupational exposure to asbestos is known to cause several distinct types of injuries. Generally, the longer a person is exposed to asbestos dust and the greater the intensity of this exposure, the more likely that person is to develop an asbestos-related illness.

Individual susceptibility does, however, vary greatly. In other words, some people can be exposed to a great deal of asbestos over a long period of time and never develop an asbestos-related injury. On the other extreme, some people can be exposed to very little asbestos and suffer fatal asbestos related injuries.

All asbestos-related diseases have rather long latency periods (period of time between the first exposure to asbestos and the diagnosis of an asbestos-related disease) ranging from 10 years to 30, 40 or more years. Even though a person may have been exposed to asbestos many years ago, they can still develop asbestos-related injuries. This is because the human body can never entirely rid itself of ingested asbestos. The asbestos continues to do its damage to the lungs and other organs long after exposure has stopped.

In general, asbestos can cause two different types of illnesses:

» Malignant diseases (cancers caused in organs with which ingested asbestos comes into contact)
» Non-malignant diseases (scarring processes of the respiratory tract).