Blacksmiths engage in a centuries old occupation, heating and shaping iron and metal into useful and ornamental items. These days, when most metal work is done by machine, a skilled blacksmith is most often an artisan or artist, working with metal and fire. Because blacksmiths work with hot metal and fire, it's not surprising that asbestos would be used in various ways in their work. Blacksmiths, particularly those who worked as blacksmiths in the years before the 1980s, were at risk of being exposed to asbestos in a number of different ways.

In a true irony, the biggest occupational danger to blacksmiths often lay in the clothing and equipment that was meant to protect him from burns and the heat from the forge. Among the places that asbestos was often used - and may still be used in older forges and buildings - are protective flooring and tiles on the walls and floors, asbestos plates beneath and behind the forge and asbestos insulation around and on top of the furnace and forge.

Asbestos has historically been used for insulation and fireproofing since early Roman days. Asbestos is a mineral, a rock, but when it is broken and pulverized, it breaks into long, fine fibers that can be woven like fabric or mixed with other substances like paint, cement and cellulose or wood fibers. Mixed with other things or woven, it retains its properties to insulate and resist fire, making it an ideal material to use in making protective equipment, barrier walls and protective clothing.

Asbestos was also used in other ways in blacksmith's workshops as well. Asbestos insulation protected the wall behind the forge from the heat and prevented fires. The floor of the workshop, especially the floor around the forge and the work area, was protected by asbestos tiles or asbestos sheets, also to prevent fires and burns to the floor. The forge itself was also often protected by asbestos insulation to hold the heat in the forge and to keep the room cooler.

The blacksmith may have worn asbestos gloves, asbestos apron and asbestos face masks to protect him or herself from burns while working with hot metals and from sparks flying from the forge or from the metal being worked. Asbestos cloth is far lighter in weight than the more traditional leather used for protective aprons, and provides better protection from the heat and fire.

Unfortunately, those fine, nearly indestructible asbestos fibers are also a serious health hazard. When protective clothing like asbestos aprons and gloves start to wear, tiny fibers of asbestos can break off the fabric and become airborne as lint or dust. The asbestos fibers can be inhaled by anyone in the area, most especially the person wearing the protective clothing. Inhaled and ingested asbestos fibers can cause serious diseases, not only in those who work closely around asbestos, but in their family and household members as well.

Asbestos has been proven to cause malignant mesothelioma, a rare aggressive cancer that affects the lining of tissue around the lungs, the heart or the abdominal cavity. The most common form of mesothelioma, pleural mesothelioma, thickens the very thin layer of tissue around the lungs, making it impossible for the lungs to expand and take in air. Less common but just as deadly are pericardial mesothelioma, which affects the lining around the heart, and peritoneal mesothelioma, which affects the lining of the abdominal cavity.

Other asbestos related disease include lung cancer, which occurs at a significantly higher rate in those who have been exposed to asbestos than it does in the general population, as well as cancer of the stomach, colon and esophagus. Asbestos also causes non-cancerous diseases and conditions, including asbestosis, a progressive scarring of the lungs that eventually destroys the lungs completely.

Nearly all of the diseases caused by asbestos have a long latency period. Symptoms of mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases may not become obvious for decades after the exposure to asbestos. Many people who worked with and around asbestos in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s are only now being diagnosed with mesothelioma, lung cancer and asbestosis. The Centers for Disease Control estimate that thousands of people will be diagnosed with mesothelioma each year, and thousands will die of mesothelioma and related diseases each year.

The true tragedy of mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases is that they were totally preventable. The companies that mined, processed and distributed asbestos were aware of the hazards of inhaling asbestos fibers for decades, and actively hid those dangers from their workers and from the public. They continued to use asbestos in their products even when there were other substitutes available, and did nothing to protect or warn their employees and customers of the hazards of the product they were selling.

Because of their negligence, many of the companies who profited from asbestos have been successfully sued for the damage caused by asbestos. Juries around the country have awarded millions of dollars to plaintiffs who developed mesothelioma or lung cancer after breathing asbestos in the workplace or in public buildings.

If you or someone you know worked as a blacksmith, you may have been exposed to asbestos and are at risk of developing mesothelioma. You should make your doctor aware of your possible asbestos exposure, and be aware of the symptoms of mesothelioma, lung cancer and other asbestos-related diseases. If you have been diagnosed with any asbestos-related disease, you should also consult a mesothelioma lawyer skilled in asbestos litigation to find out about your right to sue for compensation for the damages caused by asbestos. You may have a right to compensation for your pain and suffering.