Asbestos on textiles: is there an endangering during washing and wearing?

Asbestos is a ubiquitous environmental pollutant despite the ban of its use since about 10 years ago. Textiles may be contaminated by asbestos fibres from drinking water or household chemicals, and so a health risk could be possible. To obtain knowledge on the real hazard of asbestos fibres deposited on textiles, the behaviour of asbestos during washing, rinsing and drying of textiles has been investigated using an asbestos-like model fibre, i.e. fluff of cationically modified cellulose fibres. The results showed only small amounts of about 10% of contaminating fibres remained after washing and drying. Some special investigations were also made using asbestos fibres themselves. The simultaneous influence of mechanical and thermal energy, increased by addition of detergents leads to a continuous fibrillation of the asbestos fibres reducing their length below that believed to be hazardous to health. The results cannot be transferred to highly contaminated protective clothing without additional investigations. However asbestos contamination of textile from drinking water or household chemicals in washing processes is highly unlikely to give rise to a health hazard.