13 FAQS: Understanding the Alan Reinstein Ban Asbestos Now (ARBAN) Act of 2025 and the EPA’s Part 1 Rule Legal Challenge
Posted on September 19th, 2025
The following Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) provide an overview of the current asbestos crisis in the United States, the limitations of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2024 Part 1 Chrysotile Asbestos Rule, and the significance of the pending legal challenge in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. They also explain the scope and importance of the bicameral Alan Reinstein Ban Asbestos Now (ARBAN) Act of 2025, highlighting why comprehensive legislation is necessary to permanently protect workers, families, and communities from asbestos exposure.
These 13 FAQs are designed to answer common questions, clarify complex issues, and outline the urgent steps Congress and the public can take to achieve a full asbestos ban.
1. What is asbestos, and why does it remain a public health crisis?
Asbestos is a group of six naturally occurring mineral fibers known to cause mesothelioma, lung cancer, asbestosis, and other serious diseases. There is no safe level of exposure. It kills more than 40,000 Americans each year, or about one person every 13 minutes. Nearly 70 countries have banned asbestos, yet the U.S. continues to allow its import and use.
2. What makes asbestos so hard to manage?
Asbestos fibers are microscopic, durable, and easily become airborne when disturbed. Once released, they can linger in the environment for decades. “Legacy asbestos” still exists in millions of homes, schools, and public buildings. Disasters such as fires, earthquakes, or floods can suddenly release fibers from structures, creating acute risks for first responders and residents.
3. What is the EPA’s Part 1 Chrysotile Asbestos Rule?
Issued in March 2024, the EPA’s rule bans six ongoing uses of chrysotile asbestos (only one of the six recognized fibers), including chlor-alkali diaphragms, asbestos vehicle brakes, and certain gaskets. Compliance dates for some facilities are up to twelve years. While a step forward, the rule is limited in scope and leaves significant gaps.
4. Why does ADAO argue the Part 1 rule is inadequate?
ADAO and its public health partners have identified four key deficiencies:
Narrow fiber coverage: It only bans chrysotile, one of six deadly asbestos fibers.
Partial use coverage: It regulates only six uses, allowing for undocumented uses to continue without restriction.
Industry-friendly timelines: Some companies were given up to twelve years to transition despite the ready availability of safer alternatives.
Failure to address environmental releases: EPA did not meaningfully restrict asbestos industrial releases to air, water, and waste streams.
5. What is the legal challenge before the Fifth Circuit Court?
Two sets of petitioners have filed suit:
Public health petitioners, including ADAO, argue the rule is under-protective and violates TSCA.
Industry petitioners, including Olin Corporation and several chemical councils, seek to vacate the rule entirely.
If vacated, the U.S. would again have no meaningful asbestos protections under TSCA. Oral arguments are expected in early 2026.
ARBAN is bipartisan, bicameral legislation introduced by Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Representative Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), and Representative Don Bacon (R-NE).
It would:
Ban all asbestos fibers, including chrysotile, crocidolite, amosite, anthophyllite, tremolite, actinolite, and related fibers like winchite and richterite.
Ban all current and future uses of these fibers.
Ensure protections are comprehensive and not subject to judicial reversal.
This is the fifth introduction of ARBAN, reflecting years of persistent leadership and growing congressional support.
Prohibiting discontinued uses from being reintroduced.
Eliminating the risk of lengthy litigation that could weaken or overturn protections.
8. Why is bipartisan support in the House for ARBAN significant?
ARBAN is co-led in the House by Rep. Bonamici (D-OR) and Rep. Bacon (R-NE), demonstrating cross-party recognition of asbestos as a public health crisis. Bipartisanship improves prospects for committee action, broader stakeholder support, and final passage. In the Senate, the bill is currently Democratic-led by Sen. Merkley, making expanded bipartisan support there a key next step.
9. Why is legislation the only lasting solution?
EPA rules can easily be weakened or overturned in court, as seen with past asbestos regulations. By contrast, legislation like ARBAN provides durable, comprehensive, and permanent protection that ensures certainty for workers, industry, and communities.
10. What is at stake if ARBAN does not pass?
Without ARBAN, the U.S. will remain dependent on limited, legally vulnerable EPA rules. If the Fifth Circuit weakens or vacates the Part 1 rule or if EPA rolls it back, Americans will be left without meaningful protections, perpetuating preventable deaths and illnesses.
11. Who is most at risk of asbestos exposure today?
Workers in chemical production, construction, and remediation remain at the highest risk, along with firefighters, first responders, and disadvantaged communities near industrial facilities. Children and consumers may also face exposure from contaminated environments and products.
12. What role do survivors and families play in advancing ARBAN?
Survivors and families provide powerful testimony that humanizes the statistics and demonstrates the real-world toll of asbestos disease. Their voices have been central in hearings, advocacy, and raising awareness, helping Congress and the public grasp the urgency of prevention.
13. What can Congress and the public do now?
Congress: Act swiftly to pass ARBAN.
The public: Urge elected officials to co-sponsor ARBAN, share stories to raise awareness, and use tools like ADAO’s Asbestos Action Navigator to learn about prevention, exposure, and treatment.
