To date, most research has centered around asbestos workers and their families, with whom it has been proven that chronic breathing of asbestos fibers causes permanent scarring of the lungs (“asbestosis”), lung cancer, or mesothelioma.

At present, however, no definitive research links these diseases to incidental exposure in the home. Data are difficult to gather in the broad population, particularly because asbestos-related health problems may show up 30 or 40 years after exposure. But this doesn’t mean there’s no risk.

A growing number of doctors and researchers are concerned about the long-term effects of low-level exposure. As a rule, asbestos fibers tend to attach themselves permanently to lung tissue; long term, residual accumulation may eventually cause disease.

The prudent assumption, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, is that when it comes to airborne asbestos, there is “no safe exposure.”