Posted on January 30, 2023

Over the years, ADAO has developed a multi-track strategy to protect public health from asbestos in the United States and across the globe. Most people do not know that asbestos is still legal and lethal in our country.

Tragically, over 40,000 Americans die each year from preventable illnesses caused by asbestos exposure. The most common of these asbestos-caused diseases include mesothelioma, asbestosis, and cancers of the lung, larynx, and ovaries.

ADAO’s strategy combines regulation and legislation to stop asbestos imports and use and encourage the chlor-alkali industry to transition to safer alternatives. ADAO collaborates with public health advocates and agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), responsible for protecting human health and the environment, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), responsible for regulating food, drugs, and medical devices; the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), responsible for ensuring safe and healthy working conditions for employees, and the U.S. Surgeon General who is provides expert advice on public health issues.

ADAO’s strategy combines the power of regulation and legislation. We aim to stop imports and the use of asbestos and to advocate for the chlor-alkali industry’s transition to safer alternatives. We continue to work hard alongside other public health advocates and agencies to protect the public from toxic substances.

Regulation

ADAO is grateful for the landmark steps that have been taken to reduce the impact of asbestos on public health. Many agencies work to protect Americans from asbestos. Most notably, ADAO has had the privilege of working alongside the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the U.S. Surgeon General, among others, to regulate asbestos imports and use.

In April 2022, EPA released its Risk Management for Asbestos, Part 1: Chrysotile Asbestos, which determined that chrysotile asbestos does indeed present “unreasonable risks to workers, occupational non-users, consumers, and bystanders for all ongoing uses.” In the economic analysis that followed, EPA reiterated that chrysotile asbestos presents “unreasonable human health risk” and proceeded to place a ban on just one of six asbestos fibers, and six conditions of use. While this is a significant step forward, ADAO continues to emphasize that EPA’s proposal is not a comprehensive ban and is certain to face legal challenges from industry in the future. The only thing that will truly stop asbestos exposure is unambiguous legislation, which is why we continue to push for both regulation and legislation.

ADAO was excited to learn the FDA will have greater cosmetic oversight given the new Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act (MoCRA) in the Omnibus Spending Bill. MoCRA will require companies to test talc for asbestos within one year. This act comes after a long history of FDA’s fight for greater oversight and regulation of cosmetic ingredients to protect consumers. We are delighted that it includes asbestos, which has been a problem for decades.

More information continues to come to light- as indicated by EPA’s Notice of Data Availability (NODA) published in the Federal Register. The industry still uses the same old playbook when justifying asbestos imports and use, reinforcing our motivation and strategy to end asbestos importation and use with regulatory and legislative actions.

Our multi-track strategy is also focused on raising awareness and educating the public about asbestos. Late last year, ProPublica released several important investigative reports, including an in-depth look at the dangerous asbestos exposure from chlor-alkali plants using asbestos diaphragms. ProPublica’s excellent investigations confirmed, once again, that there is no safe level of asbestos exposure and there is no such thing as “safe or controlled use” — despite claims to the contrary by those who profit from its use.

ADAO has shared research and interviews to help with this critical work. Meanwhile, more media continues to surface as the ban-asbestos movement rolls forward. The Intercept released a story detailing how incarcerated individuals were forced to do a variety of harmful, high-risk jobs, like asbestos abatement, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Legislation

Despite these landmark steps in asbestos regulation, more than regulations are needed to protect public health. That is why ADAO continually works with Congress and the White House to move ban-asbestos legislation forward.

The Alan Reinstein Ban Asbestos Now Act (ARBAN) is the most comprehensive asbestos ban bill put before Congress in 30 years. Upon passage, it will help end the nearly 40,000 American asbestos-caused deaths that occur each year. Each year after its implementation will continue compounding the lived saved as asbestos exposure becomes non-existent. Importantly, ARBAN will ban all six fibers of asbestos and transition chlor-alkali plants to non-asbestos technology.

Over the years, ARBAN has garnered bipartisan support, nearly passing out of its Senate committee in 2019 with a resounding 47-1 vote. In May 2022, ARBAN was reintroduced and again championed by Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Representative Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR). During a legislative hearing in June, ADAO joined the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) and other advocates to present the dangers of continued asbestos exposure.

Upon ARBAN’s introduction in 2022, Senator Merkley released a video message reminding us that “most of the developed world, some 60 nations in total have banned [asbestos], banned its use, banned its importation, but the United States has failed to act.” Regarding EPA’s potential ban of one type of asbestos fiber and its six conditions of use, Sen. Merkley simply stated, “That’s not good enough. Now is the time to end importation.”

We know well the time to end asbestos imports and use is now. ADAO is calling on advocates, agencies, and Congress alike to step forward and ban asbestos once and for all. Join ADAO and others in advocating for the passage of a comprehensive asbestos ban today! Join nearly 150,000 others and sign the petition to ban asbestos, and write your own #BanAsbestos letter to Congress here in 60 seconds or less. Together we make change happen.

Linda Reinstein