What is asbestos and what is its impact on human health?

1 Asbestos is a generic term referring to several fibrous silicate minerals that are able to withstand tremendous heat and fire. While asbestos was reportedly used by the Greeks and Romans, in more modern times asbestos was produced and sold commercially "as an insulator against heat as early as 1866, and asbestos cement was introduced about 1870." Borel v. Fibreboard Paper Prods. Corp., 493 F.2d 1076, 1083 n. 3 (5th Cir.1973), cert. denied, 419 U.S. 869, 95 S.Ct. 127, 42 L.Ed.2d 107 (1974).