ADAO Wraps Up A Successful Mesothelioma Awareness Day Congressional Staff Briefing

Photo Courtesy of Earl Dotter

The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) successfully concluded our 13th Congressional Staff Briefing, “TSCA and Asbestos: EPA’s Failure to Protect Public Health.”  Nearly 40 staffers, representing 20 states from across the nation, attended the luncheon briefing.

We owe a HUGE thank you our incredible speakers who took time out of their busy schedules to join us on The Hill to share their expertise! We also owe a big thanks to Earl Dotter, expert photojournalist, for coming to our briefing and meetings and documenting our work.

Briefing speakers included:

• Scott Faber, Vice President of Government Affairs, Environmental Working Group
• Dr. Raja Flores, Chair of the Department of Thoracic Surgery at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine
• Mike Mattmuller, Mesothelioma Patient
• Pat Morrison, International Association of Firefighters
• Linda Reinstein, President/CEO & Co-Founder, Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO)
• Robert Sussman, Former EPA Deputy Administrator and Senior Policy Counsel to the EPA Administrator

Mesothelioma Patient Mike Mattmuller speaking with Congressman Tonko. Photo Courtesy of Earl Dotter

The ADAO community is eternally grateful for the support of United States Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois and his tireless staff, for enabling ADAO host our important educational briefing.  Senator Durbin also showed his understanding for asbestos victims by allowing us to fly a flag over the Capitol on September 26th.

This time, our educational briefing focused on the increased asbestos imports and deaths, EPA’s failure to address and evaluate the largest risk of asbestos exposure in homes, schools, workplaces, and our environment, recent AHERA asbestos violations in CA, TX, and PA, new EPA Administration and legislative actions and the Alan Reinstein Ban Asbestos Now Act. 

In addition to hearing from distinguished experts, staffers also received “Share Your Story” submissions from their states to inform them of the asbestos threat their constituents face. 

After our briefing, we met with Congressional Leadership, including two member meetings, to advance our prevention and policy efforts. We were thrilled to deliver over 117,000 petition signatures 

ADAO presenting nearly 120,000 ban asbestos signatures to Congress. Photo Courtesy of Earl Dotter

to the U.S. Senate and show just how important it is to our community that this lethal carcinogen be banned once and for all. 

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. Here are a few ways you can help:

• 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 make change happen. 

In unity,

Linda Reinstein
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