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Crocidolite
The common name for Crocidolite is Blue Asbestos. This is due to its distinctive color. It is also sometimes called Krokydolith or Abriachanite as well. Crocidolite is the fibrous form of the mineral known as Riebeckite. It is just one of the many types of asbestos minerals found in nature. Crocidolite can be found in many places around the world including Western and Southern Australia, Austria, Germany, Madagascar, Greenland and the United States. In the US, geologists have found Blue Asbestos in the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin. It is just one of many forms of commercially used asbestos that have now been linked to permanent lung damage (1). A high number of those exposed to Blue Asbestos also develop mesothelioma, a form of lung cancer.
Mesothelioma has been proven repeatedly in many different types of studies to be linked with exposure to Crocidolite as well as all other forms of asbestos. Other commercially used asbestos forms include Amosite, Chrysotile and Tremolite. Crocidolite was once thought to cause higher rates of mesothelioma than other types of asbestos. Victor L. Roggli, M.D., a physician in Durham, North Carolina, conducted a study to find out if this was the case. In the study, he closely examined the lung tissue in many individuals diagnosed with this form of cancer. He determined that, while those exposed to Crocidolite did indeed have elevated levels of mesothelioma and related diseases, this correlation was not unique to Crocidolite, and high rates of mesothelioma are correlated with other types of asbestos as well.
All forms of asbestos cause lung damage and high rates of mesothelioma among those exposed. Even exposure to chrysotile, the only form of asbestos found to be less severe in its health effects, can still produce mesothelioma in those exposed (2).
- Ralph, Jolyon and Ida. "Crocidolite." The Mineral and Locality Database. 2007. http://www.mindat.org/min-8996.html. 12 July 2007.
- Rogli, Victor L., M.D. "Mineralogic Evaluation of Lung Tissues in Persons with Malignant Mesothelioma." Mesothelioma.com: The Web's Most Trusted Source on Mesothelioma. 2006. http://www.mesothelioma.com/crocidolite.htm. 12 July 2007.