Many houses and offices still contain building materials with asbestos, particularly insulation. Asbestos fibres are known to be durable and not easily digested or dissolved after being inhaled into the lung. The chelation of asbestos with organic dyes seems to be a promising way to abate its toxicity. Dyeing can be done when the fibres are slurred in water at ambient temperatures.
The asbestos fibres that are visible to the naked eye are composed of hundreds of thousands mono-fibres called fibrils in close packed parallel arrangements. Asbestos fibres easily tear apart and become airborne. If the fibres are inhaled or ingested, they transfer to body tissue, where they become permanently lodged, resulting in serious illnesses such as a variety of cancers , mesothelioma , asbestosis , and respiratory complications.
