Penny-SlideAsbestos fibers are invisible and indestructible. See for yourself!

Asbestos Timeline

1906 First case of asbestos-related disease discussed in the medical literature

1927 The name asbestosis applied to lung scarring caused by asbestos.

1929 Workers begin suing Johns Manville for damages caused by asbestos.

1930 First epidemiology study showing asbestos causes asbestosis and set forth methods to prevent this disease indicating it is asbestos not the job that kills.

1936 Johns-Manville hired the Saranac Laboratory to do research on the hazards of asbestos. The executives agreed to suppress the information.

1943 Dr. LeRoy Gardner reports asbestos a “Likely Carcinogen”

1955 Dr. Richard Doll publishes study-linking asbestos to lung cancer.

1960 Dr. J.C. Wagner publishes 33 cases of mesothelioma showing not only workers contracted the disease but also family members and residents near the mining area.

1964 Irving Selikoff describes the incidence of asbestos related disease among end product users of asbestos in his study of North American Insulation workers.

1970 Occupational Safety and Health Act passed resulting in the first workplace standard for asbestos in 1972.

1971 EPA lists asbestos as a hazardous air pollutant.

1976 The International Agency for Research on Cancer list asbestos as a human carcinogen and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health calls for a ban on asbestos in US workplaces.

1985 EPA Publishes the “Guidance for Controlling Asbestos-Containing Materials in Buildings”

1986 EPA Publishes the “Guidance for Prevention Asbestos Disease Among Auto Mechanics”

1989 EPA promulgates Asbestos Ban and Phase – Out Rule which was overruled by the 5th US Federal Circuit Court of Appeals.

1998 International Programme for Chemical Safety determines there is no safe exposure for chrysotile asbestos.

2001 The collapse of the World Trade Center towers led to the release of hundreds of tons of asbestos from the towers.

2006 The World Health Organization and the International Labor Organization in a policy paper and a resolution adopted respectively agreed that: all forms of asbestos are classified as human carcinogens, no threshold for “safe” exposure exists, and the elimination of asbestos use is essential to stop the global epidemic of asbestos-related disease.

2008 International Agency for Research On Cancer (IARC) “Asbestos was considered by previous IARC Working Groups in 1972, 1976, and 1987 (IARC, 1973, 1977, 1987a). Since that time, new data have become available, these have been incorporated in the Monograph, and taken into consideration in the present evaluation.”

2009 US Surgeon General Statement by Dr. Steven K. Galson  

2013 US Surgeon General Statement by Dr. Regina Benjamin

2014 US Surgeon General Statement by Dr. Boris Lushniak 

2015

2016

U.S. Senate Asbestos Awareness Resolutions