We are probably all familiar with the dangers of asbestos in your rooftop or in various pieces of old equipment as it has been shown that the microscopic asbestos particles reach our lungs and can then potentially cause lung cancer.
Now smoking (for example) can cause cancer because of various carcinogens chemically interacting with DNA, but how can these asbestos particles, specifically prized for being quite unreactive, damage DNA to the point of triggering cancer?