ADAO Wraps Up A Successful Mesothelioma Awareness Day Congressional Staff Briefing

Photo Credit: Earl Dotter

The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) successfully concluded another empowering day on our trip to Washington, DC. ADAO’s 12th Congressional Staff Luncheon Briefing “TSCA and Asbestos: Protecting Public Health and the Environment,” was a crucial success. Over 60 staffers, representing states from nearly half the nation, attended the luncheon briefing.

An incredibly strong panel of speakers presented at this briefing, illustrating the widespread consensus supporting an exemption-free asbestos ban included:

• Barry Castleman, ScD, Environmental Consultant
• Dr. Raja Flores, Chair of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Mt. Sinai Medical Center
• Andy Igrejas, Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families (SCHF)
• Brent Kynoch, Executive Director, Environmental Information Association (EIA)
• Pat Morrison, International Association of Firefighters
• Linda Reinstein, Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization President/CEO/Co-Founder

The EPA’s failure to ban asbestos in 1989 and the related court decision made asbestos the poster child during the past decade  of legislative efforts. Last year, the EPA was given the tools to rectify this failure and complete an asbestos ban, with the passage of reforms to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), and the subsequent prioritization of asbestos to be one of the first ten chemicals to be evaluated under the new law. Unfortunately, in the early stages 

The educational briefing focused on the EPA’s serious exclusions and flaws in the asbestos evaluation scoping document. As written, the scoping doc will not lead to a full evaluation of asbestos risk, as it dangerously omits consideration of legacy asbestos uses and disposal and the Libby amphibole, and interprets the term “condition in use” in a way that opens the door for industry exemptions. You can check out our briefing PowerPoint presentation at the bottom of this blog to learn more about what we discussed.

We owe a HUGE thank you to our all of our incredible speakers who took time out of their busy schedules to join us on the Hill to share their expertise! In addition to hearing from these distinguished experts, staffers also received “Share Your Story” submissions from their states, to give them an idea of the asbestos threat their constituents face. 

ADAO is also very grateful to Senator Durbin, a long-standing supporter of asbestos victims, and his staffers for helping us coordinate the briefing, and also for his unyielding dedication to making America safer.

Although we made incredible progress on this trip, we must keep asbestos victims in the minds and hearts of Congress and the EPA as evaluation continues:

• Share Your Story on our website or on social media – we share these with your Congressional Representatives.
• Sign up for and share ADAO’s monthly eNewsletters
• Share the Top 10 Asbestos Facts
• Be vocal in social media such as Facebook and Twitter.

We are being heard and together, we can make change happen.

In unity,

Linda Reinstein
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