vinyl off-gas > asbestos health risk

In an effort to get my studio space in shape, I decided it was time to get rid of the vinyl flooring in the entry way. It had a terrible off-gas odor and since it was 30+ years old, it was time to go. Since the flooring was on the concrete foundation, it had been glued down very well and had to be heated and then scraped to get it up off the flooring. What a pain. My friend Greg joked with me about asbestos and that was all I needed to go surfing on the internet. Unfortunately, I was unable to find a clear answer as to the asbestos content. Sites said that manufacturers of vinyl and other building products "MAY" have been using asbestos until the mid 80's. OK, that is a "May" not a for sure, right? I dug thru my pieces of vinyl and found one that said Congoleum so I went to their website to see if anything was posted like: Vinyl created/installed before "X" date had asbestos or didn't have asbestos. Ha! Wrong. Why would they post that? Fortunately, I did find a customer service form that I could send them a question with. I gave them the details and I got the following info:

Congoleum was using asbestos in their vinyl flooring until 1985. It did not pose a health risk unless I scraped, and dry swept the product. The dust is damaging to the lungs as it gets trapped in the lungs. Smokers are at a greater risk of having issues, but only a trained professional should remove it. LOVELY!!

I did not find this out until it was already too late. I had done everything wrong. So, I put myself at risk without even knowing it.

My questions are as follows:
Why would anyone install vinyl when ceramic costs about the same and looks better? (and no off-gas odors)
Why was the manufacturer still producing the vinyl with asbestos until 1985?
Why aren't there postings on Congoleum (and other manufacturers) website(s) that state: ALL products manufactured before 1985 contained asbestos. Do not scrape, peel, dry sweep, etc. Contact the following to have it properly removed and disposed of?

How great is my risk? How many other people are ripping it out without knowing the consequences? I have to believe I am not the only one who ripped out vinyl with asbestos.

I know that we are all going to die, we just don't know how, when or why. I just don't want to have major lung issues that cause breathing and life to be a bigger challenge than it needs to be.