The modern rise in respiratory illness and diseases resulting from indoor air toxins highlights the danger past construction materials pose. Asbestos, one of the most ubiquitous threats, leads to mesothelioma, a lethal cancer without cure. Its past popularity as an insulator means it found use in potentially hundreds of industrial applications throughout homes, offices and factories. Although mesothelioma often first appears in those who work and live around asbestos, exposure can be secondhand as well.
