Asbestos. It isn’t just a word that sends a chill to homeowners renovating old buildings; it’s a naturally occurring mineral in widespread commercial and industrial use that still poses a public health hazard today.

It’s still a big industry with big implications. Here’s a look at seven major things to know about asbestos, based on a paper recently published in the journal Annals of Global Health, by asbestos expert Arthur Frank, MD, PhD, a professor in environmental and occupational health at the Drexel University School of Public Health and his colleague T.K. Joshi of the Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health at Maulana Azad Medical College in New Delhi, India.

1. No form of asbestos is “safe.” Frank and Joshi emphasize that all types of asbestos can cause all of the diseases associated with exposure to asbestos, including lung cancer and mesothelioma. “The myth has been perpetrated that chrysotile…