Dr. Richard Lemen, Dr. L. Christine Oliver, Brent Kynoch, Liz Hitchcock, Dr. Celeste Monforton and Linda Reinstein
2017 ADAO EPA Meeting Resources and Data
Posted on May 30, 2017
The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) has just wrapped up a crucial meeting about the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and our progress toward a federal asbestos ban.
June 22 is an important deadline in the pending review and regulation of asbestos of TSCA. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is in the final stages of preparing “scoping documents” for asbestos and the rest of the first ten toxins to be reviewed and regulated under TSCA. These scoping documents “will include information about the chemical substance, such as conditions of use, exposures, including potentially exposed or susceptible subpopulations, and hazards, that the Agency expects to consider in the risk evaluation.”
ADAO has been a key stakeholder in TSCA since the negotiation stages, consistently serving as an educational resource to members of Congress and the EPA, as well as a platform for victims’ voices. It is our job to ensure EPA hears from victims and is equipped with all the facts as they move forward toward banning asbestos. At this meeting, we had the opportunity to have this crucial conversation with high-level EPA employees in the Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP) division, including: Nancy Beck, OCSPP Deputy Assistant Administrator; Wendy Cleland Hamnett, OCSPP Acting Assistant Administrator; Barbara Cunningham, Deputy Director for Management and Pollution Prevention in the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT); Brian Symmes, Acting Director of OPPT’s National Program Chemicals Division; Robert T. Courtnage, Associate Chief, Fibers and Organics Branch and Tala Henry, Director of OPPT’s Risk Assessment Division.
We also briefly discussed Executive Order 13777 on Enforcing the Regulatory Reform Agenda. On May 1, the EPA held a meeting seeking parts of TSCA that could be repealed or reformed in keeping with this the goal of EO 13777. That’s right — the law we fought so hard and so long to pass, which finally gave the EPA the power to ban asbestos, is on the chopping block. In an effort to defend TSCA as passed, we provided arguments and evidence as to just how important this historic, bipartisan bill truly is.
The EPA and its live-saving programs are under attack by the GOP-run Congress and anti-regulation Trump administration, but we have good allies working alongside us in its defense. I was joined at the meeting by Liz Hitchcock of Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families (SCHF), in addition to ADAO’s leadership Dr. Richard Lemen, Dr. L. Christine Oliver, Dr. Celeste Monforton, and Brent Kynoch.
We’ve got greater momentum behind our push for a ban than ever before, and ADAO is committed to remaining a dedicated stakeholder throughout TSCA implementation process. We’ll be sure to keep you up-to-date and in-the-know, just make sure to keep checking back for the latest news and progress.
Together, we are making change happen.
Linda