FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 8, 2020
ADAO CALLS FOR EPA TO REJECT INDUSTRY REQUESTS TO REMOVE EXPERTS FROM ASBESTOS ADVISORY COMMITTEE BECAUSE OF TIES TO ADAO
Well-Funded Asbestos Industry Lobbyists and Defense Attorneys Recklessly Seek to Delay EPA’s Evaluation of Asbestos Risk by Questioning the Integrity of Esteemed Scientific and Medical Experts Advising the Agency
Washington, D.C. — The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO)—an independent nonprofit dedicated to preventing asbestos exposure through education, advocacy, and community initiatives—calls for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reject the efforts of asbestos industry lobbyists and defense attorneys to block leading public health experts from participating in the EPA Science Advisory Committee on Chemicals (SAAC), which is currently reviewing EPA’s draft risk evaluation on asbestos. 
In the letter to EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler, ADAO’s counsel said that this “eleventh-hour demand to change the composition of the SACC is a reckless attack on ADAO, the two SAAC members and the integrity of the SACC process.” The letter pointed out that “these large, well-funded industry associations do not address the merits of EPA’s risk evaluation or acknowledge the universally recognized risks of death and serious disease from exposure to asbestos” but instead “have sought to delay completion of the evaluation by casting doubt on the objectivity and qualifications of the SACC.”
As stated in the letter to EPA:
“While ADAO has advocated a ban on asbestos, many distinguished scientists and public health organizations have also spoken out in favor of a ban. To imply that support for an asbestos ban is somehow incompatible with a commitment to sound science is preposterous. Nearly 70 countries around the world have banned asbestos and no one could deny that their actions were based on the extensive scientific evidence of asbestos harmful effects.”
The industry lobbying organizations, which have close ties to the defense bar and a long track-record of advocating limitations on claims by asbestos victims, are the American Tort Law Association, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform, American Property Casualty Insurance Association, Aerospace Industries Association, Coalition for Litigation Justice, International Association of Defense Counsel, National Federation of Independent Business Small Business Legal Center, Product Liability Advisory Council, Inc., and Washington Legal Foundation. The two law firms are Dentons and McDermott Will & Emery.
ADAO is a non-profit organization with a broad asbestos-related mission, including preventing asbestos exposure in order to eliminate all asbestos-caused diseases. This work is based on peer-reviewed scientific data and the findings of government organizations that asbestos is a known and potent carcinogen responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths from lung cancer, mesothelioma and other diseases.
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About the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization
The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) was founded by asbestos victims and their families in 2004. ADAO is the largest non-profit in the U.S. dedicated to providing asbestos victims and concerned citizens with a united voice through our education, advocacy, and community initiatives. ADAO seeks to raise public awareness about the dangers of asbestos exposure, advocate for an asbestos ban, and protect asbestos victims’ civil rights. For more information, visit www.asbestosdiseaseawareness.org.
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