Posted on November 1, 2018
Donald Trump and his administration claim they will “Make America Great Again,” but it seems they are also working to “Make Asbestos Great Again.” Nearly 40,000 Americans die each year from asbestos-related diseases, and Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)– filled with former corporate polluters– has taken drastic steps to deregulate asbestos while ignoring the risks of this deadly carcinogen.
Since his first days in office, President Trump has mounted a series of attacks aimed at repealing and reducing as many regulations as possible. He has eviscerated the agencies whose job it is to develop and enforce these lifesaving policies, including the EPA, Department of Labor, and the Department of the Interior. This has made it more difficult to enact new health and safety protections.Trump’s love of asbestos began well before he was elected president. He once declared asbestos is “100 percent safe once applied.” He smeared the work of asbestos safety activists in his 1997 book The Art of the Comeback, claiming that “the movement against asbestos was led by the mob.” On multiple occasions he has made the absurd claim that the World Trade Center would still be standing if it had asbestos.
His EPA, originally led by the now-disgraced Scott Pruitt unabashedly enacted a pro-business, anti-regulation, and anti-science agenda while rolling back asbestos-related regulations. On June 7th, it was reported the EPA would distort the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to favor polluters over public health. They decided to exclude the asbestos currently in American homes, businesses, and schools from official consideration when the agency evaluated its health and safety implications.
This charade reached ridiculous proportions in August, when the Trump Administration pressured the urban-legend-debunking website Snopes.com over their reporting on the the EPA’s current position on asbestos. Snopes accurately described the EPA’s position as an effort to allow “for the approval of new asbestos-containing products.”
Another fact-checking website, Factcheck.org followed suit and called EPA out for their deception.
As our children were returning to school in September, the EPA Office of Inspector General released the “EPA Needs to Re-Evaluate Its Compliance Monitoring Priorities for Minimizing Asbestos Risks in Schools,” report which revealed the EPA had begun directing funds away from efforts to manage asbestos in public schools to lead.
While the Trump administration continues to conceal the dangers of asbestos, it should be known that asbestos-related diseases are not new to the White House. In fact, President Carter’s chief of staff, Hamilton Jordan, died of mesothelioma at the age of 63, as did Elmo Zumwalt, who served as Chief of Naval Operations under Richard Nixon, and Eli Segal, President Clinton’s campaign chief of staff who later served in his administration.
Last month, Hillary Clinton criticized the Trump administration’s handling of asbestos regulation, saying on the Rachel Maddow Show, “If you look at what this administration has done with respect to regulations on everything from asbestos to pesticides to labor concerns, this is going to begin to really have adverse consequences on many Americans.” Her daughter, Chelsea Clinton, has repeatedly tweeted her disdain for asbestos as well.
When Trump and President Putin meet again, will the pro-asbestos agenda take center stage? Russians are at the helm of mining and disinformation. They’ve even designed a graphic with Trump’s image and approval which is used to wrap tons of asbestos on pallets awaiting shipment to the USA and other countries.
ADAO’s recent research on imports confirmed hundreds of tons have been imported into the country since the beginning of the year, far outpacing last year’s dangerous numbers. Dangerous asbestos is all around us. It is in our homes and our schools. It is in children’s crayons and in our cosmetics. It’s deadly and its everywhere and we need a government committed to cleaning up this toxic mess and ending asbestos use once and for all.
Scientific literature confirms asbestos is deadly and there is no safe or controlled use. This is not a partisan issue–it is an American issue. Democrats and Republicans are dying from asbestos. Asbestos-related diseases don’t discriminate. That’s why ADAO will remain fiercely opposed to President Trump’s attempt to Make Asbestos Great Again.
Enough deceit and deaths–it’s time to stop the tons of raw chrysotile asbestos imports and use now.
Linda Reinstein