Posted on January 7, 2019

Last September, ADAO submitted the Right to Know Petition to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Filed under Section 21 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the petition asked the EPA to use its authority to require importers and users of raw asbestos and asbestos-containing products to report their activities to the EPA. The petition also asked the EPA to make this information public so that communities and workers would know where and how asbestos is being used and in what amounts.

Despite the obvious benefits of reporting this information to government regulators charged with protecting public health and to the public itself, the EPA denied our petition.

Every year, nearly 40,000 Americans die from preventable asbestos-caused disease, yet the EPA believes there is no need to require the asbestos industry to inform the EPA  of the many ways in which citizens are exposed to asbestos and put at risk. Even the chlor-alkali industry, which imports and uses hundred of tons of raw asbestos every year, is off the hook.  

Astonishingly, the EPA claims it has all the information on asbestos exposure that it needs to evaluate its risks. Responding to this irresponsible claim, Robert Sussman, former Senior Policy Counsel to the EPA Administrator, said, “It’s obvious that the EPA doesn’t have the information necessary to make informed judgments about asbestos risks. Although the EPA falsely suggests otherwise, the reality is that imports of asbestos and asbestos-containing articles are now exempt from EPA reporting. And the EPA has itself acknowledged that they’re not sure what asbestos-containing products are entering the country and don’t know the volumes of these products, let alone where they go and how they’re used.”  

It’s absurd. If the EPA doesn’t know how, where and in what amounts Americans are exposed to asbestos and doesn’t want to find out, how can the Agency do its assigned job of protecting the public from this deadly threat?  

The petition was submitted by ADAO, the Environmental Working Group, the Center for Environmental Health, the American Public Health Association, the Environmental Health Strategy Center, and Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families.

We deserve the right to know, and you can rest assured that ADAO and the other five co-petitioners are not backing down. With the EPA ignoring the dangers to public health and giving the industry a free ride, our fight is more urgent than ever.We are armed and ready to take 2019 head on to keep citizens safe while working towards an exemption-free asbestos ban.  

ADAO is currently reviewing our legal options for compelling the EPA to use its authority under TSCA to increase transparency of both asbestos imports and use by industry.

Enough is enough. We look forward to working with you all to ensure all Americans have the right to know.

Linda Reinstein
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