Are people, who live in asbestos shingle houses, prone to disease?

Even if asbestos shingles are on your home, if they are in good condition and left undisturbed, they are usually NOT a serious problem. The mere presence of asbestos in a home or a building is not hazardous.

The danger is that asbestos materials may become damaged over time and become airborne. Damaged asbestos may release asbestos fibers and become a health hazard. As long as there is no decay or abrasion of the asbestos shingles wherein the particles can get inhaleated then I think its not so much of a concern.

@njnyjobs is correct. The presence of asbestos is not a danger by itself. The shingles would have to be handled, or damaged to the point of asbestos dust being created.

Thirding @filmfann and @njnyjobs—Asbsestos is not dangerous when it’s just sitting there. As soon as you start to disturb it, it gets dangerous.

If you are worried about it, you can look at encapsulating the shingles, but you definitely do not want to rip down the shingles and replace them.

Only if they start hatcheting their home.

Asbestos problems are highly over-rated. I worked on a NASA lab experiment, years ago, testing similar materials. The main danger from asbestos is when the individual particles are exposed. The are small with sharp spines that can cause damage at the cellular level. The only people that have actually been damaged by asbestos are the people involved in manufacturing asbestos materials or removing them from ships and power plants. The reason they were harmed is because precautions were not taken to protect them from being exposed to high levels of loose particles. The rest of the people that benefited from the suits and other legal actions were there for the money.

Considering the insulation and fire-proofing benefits, the general population is worse off because it is no longer used.

It is just another tempest in a teapot to make lawyers rich.