Posted on June 30, 2016
President Obama’s powerful message about asbestos is circling the globe.
On June 28th in Casale Monferrato the Associazione Famigliari Vittime Amianto (AFEVA) and the Italian General Confederation of Labor (CGIL) held a press conference to share the news about the landmark step to signing the 2016 Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA) reform bill into law.
During the White House signing ceremony, President Obama explained why the new law is needed:
“…the system was so complex, so burdensome that our country hasn’t even been able to uphold a ban on asbestos –a known carcinogen that kills as many as 10,000 Americans every year. I think a lot of Americans would be shocked by that.”
The USA and Canada have reprehensibly lagged the Western industrial nations who have banned asbestos, but the times are changing. In his remarks ahead of signing TSCA, President Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to publicly acknowledge asbestos as a carcinogen. The public health and environmental communities are absolutely buzzing about the historic admission. Although you might need to use Google Translate to read them, these articles will give you a sense of the global importance of American political leaders finally taking a stand against asbestos.
- Radio Gold: “Presidente, continui così”: le associazioni contro l’amianto di Casale e Los Angeles scrivono a Obama”
- Casale News: Barack Obama scende in campo nella lotta contro l’amianto
Our press conference was also covered in La Stampa, one of Italy’s most important and widely read newspapers. Though they don’t put their content online, I snapped a photo so you all could see the great spread we got.
We are deeply grateful to AFeVA and CGIL for organizing this important press conference. You can see the faces of our Italian allies in the fight against asbestos in the Facebook photo album. Connecting with them to collaborate around this recent achievement in U.S. policy was a shining example of how powerful it can be when we partner for prevention. The flag, “Eternit: Giustizia,” in the photo is immensely important to the global struggle – as we know, “we are one.”
Linda