The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) is thrilled to announce that Barbara Minty McQueen, widow of the late film icon Steve McQueen, will join ADAO in Washington D.C. to speak at the U.S. House of Representatives staff briefing on July 24th. Barbara will discuss how asbestos took the life of her husband and why the U.S. should ban asbestos. Since attending our conference in March, where Steve McQueen was honored with the Warren Zevon “Keep Me in Your Heart” Award, Barbara continues to ask the million dollar question: ‘Why hasn’t asbestos been banned?” I love Barbara’s honesty, gumption, and guts, especially when she said, “I want to ask President Obama and Congress to get off the bench, get in the game, and immediately ban the importation and use of asbestos.”
Barbara is a talented author and photographer, not to mention a former model. She will unveil her new book, Steve McQueen: The Last Mile…Revisited, which details her life with Steve (including his battle with mesothelioma) during ADAO’s press conference at the National Press Club on July 25th. Barbara’s dedication to end the deadly legacy of asbestos goes even further, she has allowed ADAO to place an educational page in her book to raise awareness and encourage lawmakers to ban asbestos. The facts are irrefutable and the asbestos legislative history shows that in the past ten years, the U.S. has not been able to ban asbestos.
Steve McQueen, cinema’s “King of Cool,” was a proud veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, serving during the late 1940s. McQueen believed he developed mesothelioma as a result of exposure to asbestos when removing asbestos-filled insulation in pipes from a ship in the Washington Navy Yard. The actor and racing enthusiast may also have been exposed to significant amounts of asbestos on New York and Hollywood soundstages, or in his racing gear’s protective suits and helmets. Steve McQueen was one of the most sought-after superstars in the world. He lived as if every day was his last, and led an extraordinary life. Sadly, however, he lost his battle to mesothelioma at age 50.
Barbara issued a powerful quote in a recent press release, “Asbestos is still legal in the U.S. and continues to kill. It can kill a movie star, a musician, or a construction worker. It takes no prisoners.” Since Steve McQueen’s death in 1980, many celebrities and well-known personalities have succumbed to mesothelioma.
Steve McQueen once said, “When I believe in something, I fight like hell for it.” Steve’s words will inspire us as we go to the nation’s capital to urge the House to ban asbestos imports to the United States and stop asbestos-related diseases once and for all.
Recently, Barbara courageously shared Steve’s Story, follow the link to learn about Steve’s mesothelioma battle.
