Posted on July 27, 2021
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The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) will host our 16th Congressional Staff Briefing, “Impact of Asbestos on Public Health, Environment, and Economy”, virtually on
August 18, 2021 from 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm ET to discuss the impact of asbestos on American people, and the steps forward to end asbestos exposure and disease.
Our panel of experts are: Brad Black, MD; Barry Castleman, ScD; Raja Flores, MD; Arthur L. Frank, MD, PhD; Brent Kynoch, Environmental Information Association; Richard Lemen, PhD, MSPH; Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH, American Public Health Association; Linda Reinstein, Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization; Greg Russell, International Association of Fire Fighters; and Robert Sussman, JD, will be discussing:
- Health effect of asbestos exposure, asbestos disease, and treatments
- Asbestos imports, use, and contamination in consumer products and cosmetics
- Devastating impact of legacy asbestos in homes, schools, and buildings
- Update on EPA activities on asbestos under TSCA and critical legal developments
- Need to enact the Alan Reinstein Ban Asbestos Now (ARBAN) Act
Each year, asbestos kills over 40,000 Americans, yet imports and use continue. Without a ban, asbestos can still be found in homes, schools, commercial buildings, workplaces, and consumer products.
In keeping with ADAO’s tradition, this briefing will be dedicated to Mike Mattmuller, an amazing Mesothelioma Warrior, who passed away in April 2020. Read more about Mike and his tenacity, courage, and dedication to his family here.
Linda Reinstein
Briefing Speaker Bios
Brad Black, MD, is from Libby, Montana. He continues to be a leading advocate for healthcare, treatment, and research to benefit those impacted by Libby amphibole asbestos. A pediatrician by specialty, he additionally spent 10 years as the Medical Director for the urgent care center and served as an emergency room physician. Lincoln County Health Officer since 1984, Dr. Black has become dedicated to developing the healthcare infrastructure for asbestos-related disease healthcare, including the planning and implementation of the original ATSDR screening program and the development of CARD. With support from Alan Whitehouse, Spokane Pulmonologist, Dr. Black has become an expert in identifying and managing Libby amphibole asbestos diseases. His dedication is appreciated greatly by CARD as well as the community.
Barry Castleman, ScD is an Environmental Consultant trained in chemical and environmental engineering. He holds a Doctor of Science degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. He has been a consultant to numerous agencies of the US government and other governments, international bodies, and environmental groups dealing with a wide range of public health issues. He has testified as an expert in civil litigation in the US on the history of asbestos as a public health problem and the reasons for failure to properly control asbestos hazards. Dr. Castleman has spent the past. 40 years working on asbestos as a public health problem.
Raja Flores, MD, is the Chairman for the Department of Thoracic Surgery at Mt. Sinai Medical Center and ADAO Science Advisory Board Co-Chair Member. Raja is a recognized leader in the field of thoracic surgery for his pioneering efforts in the treatment of mesothelioma. Dr. Flores’ research interests include numerous past projects relating to the multimodality management of malignant pleural mesothelioma. He helped pioneer the use of intraoperative chemotherapy for mesothelioma, and led a multi-center trial designed to improve patient outcomes. He changed the surgical management of pleural mesothelioma cancer with a landmark study comparing extrapleural pneumonectomy and pleurectomy/decortication. An expert in his field, Dr. Flores has appeared on many national and local television news reports to discuss mesothelioma. With over 250 related publications to date, his energies and commitment to the plight of mesothelioma patients remains paramount.
Arthur L. Frank, MD, PhD is a physician board certified in both internal medicine and occupational medicine and currently serves as Professor of Public Health and Chair Emeritus of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the Drexel University School of Public Health in Philadelphia. He is also a Professor of Medicine (Pulmonary) at the Drexel College of Medicine. He also holds a position at Drexel as Professor of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering. A life-long academic, Dr. Frank has previously taught at Mount Sinai, the University of Kentucky and in the University of Texas System. He has served many governmental agencies in the US and has carried out research and has been a governmental advisor internationally. Trained in both occupational medicine and internal medicine, Dr. Frank has been interested in the health hazards of asbestos for more than 35 years. He has published a great deal of work on the hazards of asbestos, and clinically cared for asbestos affected patients. He has lectured internationally about the problems of asbestos, and worked in many settings looking at the diseases caused by this material. His research interests have been in the areas of occupational cancers and occupational lung diseases, as well as agricultural safety and health. For thirty-seven years he held a commission in the U S Public Health Service (active and inactive) and served on active duty both at the NIH and at NIOSH. Arthur is the ADAO Science Advisory Board Co-Chair.
Brent Kynoch is the Managing Director of the Environmental Information Association, headquartered just outside of Washington, DC in Chevy Chase, MD. He has been the Managing Director of the Association since 1996, but previously had served EIA in other volunteer roles on the Board of Directors as an officer, and ultimately as the President of EIA in 1988 and 1989. EIA has spent over 30 years at the forefront in providing its members with the information needed to remain knowledgeable, responsible and competitive in the environmental health and safety industry. Mr. Kynoch is a graduate of Vanderbilt University, where he received a degree in mechanical engineering. He is called upon frequently as a speaker, as a writer and as an expert regarding environmental contaminants. He has testified before both the US House of Representatives and the US Senate regarding asbestos, and has written numerous articles on asbestos management and control.
Richard Lemen, PhD, MSPH is a retired Assistant Surgeon General of the United States and also served as the Acting Director and the Deputy Director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health before his retirement. He has been a practicing epidemiologist for more than forty years and has taught graduate level courses on environmental and occupational health issues, including asbestos, at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. He has also testified on behalf of asbestos victims; Dr. Lemen is a world-renowned author, speaker, and lecturer on this topic.
Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH is a professorial lecturer in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University, and liaison to the ADAO Science and Prevention Advisory Boards. Her research includes assessment of worker health and safety laws and policies, and their effectiveness in protecting workers from illnesses, disability and death. She has published articles on strategies used by economic interests, including the asbestos industry, to manipulate scientific evidence to create uncertainty about health risks in order to delay protective regulatory action and compensation. Prior to her academic appointment, Dr. Monforton was a federal employee at the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA, 1991-1995) and Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA, 1996-2001). Dr. Monforton served on the special panels appointed by the West Virginia Governor to investigate the January 2006 Sago coal mine disaster that took the lives of 12 workers, and the April 2010 disaster at Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch mine that killed 29 workers. Dr. Monforton is an active member of the American Public Health Association and serves in a leadership position with the organization’s Occupational Health and Safety Section
Linda Reinstein is the President/CEO and Co-Founder of Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO). Reinstein became an activist when her husband, Alan, was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2003. She co-founded the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization in 2004, and now serves as President and CEO. Reinstein has been a strong political voice for justice in every major asbestos-related issue. Reinstein, a highly sought-after international speaker, has frequently served as a Congressional witness and presented at the Department of Labor (OSHA), British House of Commons, United Nations Congress, American Public Health Association, and to other audiences around the world. Recognized as an expert with nearly 40 years of nonprofit experience in building and sustaining grassroots organizations, Reinstein specializes in developing, implementing, and leveraging integrated social media campaigns. Focused on national and international occupational and environmental disease prevention, Reinstein’s proficiency in the powerful advocacy space of online media has greatly increased the effectiveness of ADAO’s core mission of education, advocacy, and community support actions. She has won many prestigious awards including the Global Impact Award (2013), from the Independent Asbestos Training Providers; Bruce Vento Hope Builder Award (2011), from the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation; the highest level of the Presidential Volunteer Service Award for her 4,000 hours of volunteerism during her lifetime (2010); and the Heart and Soul Award in from the Manhattan Beach Women in Business Association (2005). Recently, after months of collaboration with experts in the U.S. and Australia, Reinstein spearheaded the launch of a new web “know Asbestos”, to educate about the dangers of asbestos exposure and prevention.
Greg Russell, serves as a Government Affairs Representative with the International Association of Fire Fighters, he oversees a diverse and expansive portfolio of fire and EMS operational issues. Joining the fire service in 1983, Greg immersed himself in the fire and emergency medicals service career field climbing through the operational ranks to serve as an engine company Lieutenant before transitioning to the Fire Marshall’s Office. Greg retired as a Fire Marshal and Fire/Arson Investigator in 2016 after 33 years of uniformed service. Progressively rising in the IAFF since 1996, he continues to advocate for the issues of importance to the men and women of the fire service.
Robert Sussman, JD, is the principal in Sussman and Associates, a consulting firm that offers advice on energy and environmental policy issues to clients in the non-profit and private sectors. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Georgetown University Law Center and was a Visiting Lecturer at Yale Law School. Bob served in the Obama Administration as C0-Chair of the Transition Team for EPA and then as Senior Policy Counsel to the EPA Administrator from 2009-2013. He served in the Clinton Administration as the EPA Deputy Administrator during 1993-94. At the end of 2007, Bob retired as a partner at the law firm of Latham & Watkins, where he headed the firm’s environmental practice in DC. Bob was a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress in 2008. He is currently serving on the Board on Environmental Science of the National Academy of Sciences and as a Commissioner of the Interstate Commission for the Potomac River Basin. Bob is a magna cum laude 1969 graduate of Yale College and a 1973 graduate of Yale Law School. Bob has posted numerous blogs on the Brookings Institution Website and elsewhere and published articles in the Environmental Law Reporter and other publications.