asbestos alternatives

In this article they give some alternatives for the use of asbestos for different kinds of applications. They compare the current alternatives for using asbestos there are and what the advantages and disadvantages of the different alternatives are and they especially compare the consequences and damage the material can do to human beings. We feel that this is an interesting article to get started but can't really build on it as being scientifically proven, and also the date of the article is 2004 so maybe in the mean time some things have already changed.
Anyway, the cellulose fibers as alternative seems to be interesting. Available evidence shows their cancer stimulating effects to be significantly smaller than those from asbestos. Little is known, however, of the way that cellulose fibres may contribute to other diseases of the respiratory tract. Also the Kevlar (para-aramid) fibers seem to be an interesting alternative since they are likely to pose a lower risk of pulmonary fibrosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma than chrysotile asbestos. The size of the fibre is easily controlled and it has qualities of toughness and thermal insulation. Not commonly encountered as it has limited, specialist uses.
As third, the Polyvinylalcohol fibre seems to be interesting since these do not split into finer fibres (because that's how fibers get in the body) and they are unlikely to pose a significant risk of the diseases which have been associated with durable respirable fibres.
Some (the most interesting in our opinion) asbestos substitutes are also made from fibrous materials and a range of hazards arise from the fact that all fibres can be: breathed in, ingested and contact hazards with skin and eyes.
Finally there are some advices there of the World Health Orangisation (WHO). They suggest that, as far as possible, manufacturers should ensure fibre sizes that are not breathable (non-inspirable), or at least not so small as to get deep into the lung (non-respirable).If small-diameter respirable fibres are necessary then they should not resist the body's clearing mechanisms (be bio-persistent) or exhibit other toxic effects.All fibres that are respirable and bio-persistent must undergo testing for toxicity and for their ability to cause cancers. It is though very important that every company controls the exposure to asbestos (or more general to fibers and dust).
In our thesis, we have to design an automated system to detect asbestos fibres in a filter. The purpose of this is to count the asbestos fibres in the filter and to detect if the amount is within the legally official limit. In our blog, we want to look at alternatives for the use of asbestos and determine what we can do to decrease the use of the highly dangerous asbestos.