STATEMENT: Linda Reinstein, ADAO, Discusses Asbestos is an Environmental Justice Issue at the White House Meeting

For Immediate Release
November 16, 2021

Linda Reinstein Written Statement for Submission to the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council

Linda Reinstein, ADAO, Discusses Asbestos is an Environmental Justice Issue at the White House Meeting

The statement below is from Linda Reinstein, co-founder and president of The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO), the nation’s largest independent nonprofit asbestos victims’ organization in the United States, in regard to meeting with the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council on November 17

“Today’s meeting with the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council gave voice to the thousands of unseen and unheard victims of the known, and lethal carcinogen, asbestos.

Asbestos is an environmental issue that disproportionately affects Black, Brown, Indigenous and lower-income communities, who have become the dumping grounds for toxic chemicals and pollutants, including asbestos. The cycle of suffering for these communities, where chronic asbestos-related medical conditions like cancer, liver, kidney, heart, and lung diseases have become the norm, can only end with a complete asbestos ban.

From firefighters putting their lives on the line to extinguish fires in asbestos-ridden buildings, to children playing near landfills where asbestos materials are dumped, Americans remain at risk. To this day, asbestos continues to be found in homes, schools, workplaces, and on consumer shelves across the country. 

Over 15 years ago I lost my husband to Mesothelioma, a preventable asbestos-caused cancer. No family should have to endure that kind of loss; we continue fighting to ensure that future generations will never have to. With the support of President Biden’s Environmental Justice Advisory Council, ADAO and its allies are confident that we can work to end this environmental injustice and finally ban asbestos once and for all.”

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