Posted on October 1, 2018
Not only has the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a rule that could allow for new asbestos products to enter the market, but the agency tried to convince a fact-checking website that it wasn’t true.
On June 11, the fact-checking website Snopes.com posted an article titled “Is the EPA Allowing for the Approval of New Asbestos-Containing Products?” The article rated the claim as “mostly true,” based on the fact that the “EPA had proposed a new rule for asbestos that would (at first) block some currently unregulated but inactive uses of asbestos while (later) providing a framework for those unregulated uses’ formal approval should they pass a safety review.”
The Snopes article was in response to a Significant New Use Rule (SNUR), a rule issued by the EPA to get advance notice about new use of a chemical with potential to harm human health or the environment. This specific SNUR “would allow it to at least consider whether or not to impose limits.”
EPA’s failure to ban asbestos continues. In 1989 the EPA banned asbestos; however, industry won and in 1991 the ban was overturned and only five products were ‘regulated’.
The proposed SNUR rule would address 15 nearly obsolete uses of asbestos that weren’t banned in 1991.
Don’t be fooled by the EPA’s propaganda, the SNUR is not a ban. In fact, Nancy Beck, former lobbyist for the American Chemistry Council (ACC) and deputy assistant administrator for EPA’s chemical program attempted to promote this ridiculous rule by saying, “The SNUR is really a good news story for public health protection.”
However, on August 24, the EPA’s media relations office asked Snopes to change their rating from “mostly true” to “false,” claiming the EPA’s plan regarding asbestos “does not concern what are known to that agency as “new uses” of asbestos.” They also claimed the uses of asbestos pertaining to the rule are already legal because the ban on those uses was blocked in a 1991 court ruling.
In response, Snopes said, both objections “present an incomplete view of the controversy” and “mask the fact that the proposed legislation allows a pathway for certain old (and inactive) uses of asbestos to return to the market with the EPA’s blessing.” Factcheck.org, confirmed the truth, too.
The fact that the EPA tried to distort the truth via a fact-checking website is alarming and suggests the agency is nowhere near banning the lethal carcinogen.
We applaud Snopes for standing up to the EPA and not changing its rating. But once again the EPA has shown its will go to all lengths to do everything it can except pass an exemption-free ban with no loopholes.
A ban on asbestos is not a partisan issues. In fact, in 2016 Congress came together and overhauled the Toxic Substances Control Act and attempted to remove obstacles to chemical regulation, making asbestos one of the first chemicals to be assessed for safety.
However, Donald Trump’s EPA appointees — comprised of former lobbyists for polluting industries — distorted the law so it would favor polluters over public health – a major blow to a bipartisan push.
In the last few months, our petition to ban asbestos in the United States has received over 100,000 signatures, which shows the issue is widespread. Why? Because every year, nearly 40,000 Americans die from asbestos-caused diseases.
Enough is enough. It is time for a ban on asbestos.
Linda Reinstein
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