Certainly there are dangers in handling and breathing fragments of fibrous asbestos and the consequences are tragic.
Victims of it fall in the same categoy as all cancer patients with one difference - if it really is mesothelioma there are unlikely to be miraculous remissions.

But is it really mesothelioma in all cases? Why do some get it while others don't? Let us also try to lessen the anguish of those who have been close to asbestos, who have a lung function impairement, who expect to suffer the universal fate of the asbestos victim - but who have not been positively - or mistakenly diagnosed.

This writer worked in pure asbestos dust in his 20s. He is now 74. Lungs are OK for age. - Where is the difference?

I believe that many asbestos particles and dust particles containing asbestos are no more dangerous than any mineral dust.
Dust particles are broadly classified as being one of - nodular (rounded), acicular (needle shaped) and lamelar (flat flake). I believe that not all pure broken asbestos fibres will produce the acicular shape that is particularly prone to puncture tissue and become embedded. Blue asbestos is probably the worst. But it seems that other forms of asbestos may produce random particle shapes that include nodular and lamelar dimensions. These are probably in the same category as silica (stone) dust.

Even the dangerous blue asbestos fibres may not produce the damaging needle shape if they have been embedded in a product such as the famous building product "asbestos cement". Depending on the quality of the asbestos cement matrix, as it was produced, a later braking up such product may only produce dust particles of a modified shape,- as if the needle point of the fibre is blunted by some encasing cement. In my opinion these will be much less likely to penetrate tissue. But they will contribute to more prolific dust production than would be the case with a pure cement (concrete) break-up. So what you have then is a dust that more resembles extra fine stone dust - which can still lead to a dangerous silicosis ailment. I believe that such a condition would be further promoted by inhaling tobacco smoke containing benzpyrene, which is probably the component that is doing the real damage.

There are some circumstantial indicators to suggest that the incidence of true mesothelioma, as against silicosis and emphysema, is conditional upon additional, contributing factors such as benzpyrene from tobacco smoke. Millions of city dwellers have for many years breathed asbestos laden dust from brake linings. This dust would have been of the variety where the asbestos particle was embedded in other material during manufacture and, on wearing out, only a proportion would have been needle shaped due to the manner of abrasion in a brake lining. This chance accurrence may account for the occasional unexplained case of mesothelioma in someone with no demonstrable asbestos history, but also for the fact that among the millions exposed to brake linings dust there are very few cases. Of course other general lung function ailments have seriously increased in city populations.

There is one other group of persons that might be advised to monitor their status regularly. They are the people who, in their work, have cut the old asbestos cement sheets with rotary tools, such as angle grinders. The action of an abrasive disc on an asbestos laden matrix will have produced a few dust particle shapes that could do damage. On the other hand, I think that the decommissioning of asbestos cement structures should not be hazardous if the material is handled in a manner to avoid air borne dust.

People who have worked with asbestos textile fibre should try to ascertain if any of it was original (as mined) and dry when they handled it. Most such materials were at some stage coated with fatty or synthetic substances to facilitate handling and avoid damage. These coatings would also be a form of encasement reducing the incidence of dust.

I guess what I am saying here is, if you are still among the living, your condition may not be final. If you are worried because of your history, read over this once more and see how close you really got to the really dangerous stuff.