Posted February 29, 2024
Legacy in Action: 20 Years Battling Asbestos in Remembrance of Those We’ve Lost
This year, the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) celebrates 20 years at the forefront of global public health advocacy to raise awareness and educate the public about the dangers of asbestos and how to prevent asbestos-caused disease. Over two decades, we’ve celebrated landmark achievements and faced formidable challenges as we continue to work towards a complete and total end to the importation and use of asbestos in the United States and around the world.
We have faced many obstacles in this fight. Every delay, every hurdle, every challenge is frustrating, but knowing the increasing human cost of inaction, the lives lost, and the families devastated by asbestos disease, continues to fuel our resolve to move forward. Far too many Americans are unaware that asbestos is still legal, imported, and used in the United States. Too many people are unaware of how dangerous and how prevalent legacy asbestos can be. This is why our work continues.
ADAO has made progress. We have achieved significant legal victories that have led to EPA taking much-needed action. We’ve seen Congress introduce potentially life-saving legislation. The proposed regulations are not comprehensive enough to serve as the total ban of asbestos we deserve to fully protect public health from this dangerous substance. The proposed legislation has yet to make it to the floor of Congress for a vote. Meanwhile, imports and use continue in the United States.We must continue to urge our government to act.
In Their Memory, We Take Action
ADAO was founded in the wake of profound personal loss. Doug Larkin, our co-founder, was moved to action after his father-in-law, Bill Shields was diagnosed with mesothelioma. At the same time, my husband, Alan Reinstein, began to battle the same disease. Their diagnoses sparked a deep anger in us and a resolute determination in us to do whatever we could to prevent other families from suffering from the pain of asbestos-caused disease.
It is in their memory that ADAO was founded and built a community to connect and empower people who are fighting asbestos-caused diseases. This community wants to fight for better awareness and education around the dangers of asbestos and to prevent others from facing the same unnecessary suffering they have endured. We are honored that our community of advocates includes Michael, Annamarie, Mike, Paul, and Mavis — our Meso Warriors—tenacious advocates who fight to ban asbestos while battling asbestos-caused illnesses themselves. Their stories humanize the urgent need for comprehensive regulatory action and legislative reform.
Each void left by the loss of one of our Meso Warriors is devastating to their families and resonates deeply throughout the entire ADAO community. Though they have been silenced by asbestos, we have not. ADAO and our supporters remain committed to telling their stories, and to fighting for a complete ban of asbestos to end the scourge of asbestos-caused disease.
Acknowledging the Stark Reality and Embracing Our Collective Duty
We continue to call on policy and lawmakers to act. We remind them that 40,000 Americans are lost to asbestos-caused diseases every year. We remind them that these are entirely preventable deaths—if only they will act.
That is why we need you. When you join us and add your name to our petition to “Ban Asbestos in the US Now, Without Loopholes or Exemptions,” you honor the memory of those we have lost and you join us in the effort to protect other families from the ravages of asbestos-caused diseases. United, we have the power to compel Congress to prioritize public health and pass the long overdue Alan Reinstein Ban Asbestos Now (ARBAN) Act legislation.
Even after two decades of advocacy, our mission remains as urgent as ever. In solidarity with those we have lost, those who are at risk and those who have been left behind, we persist in the battle against asbestos, driven by the vision of a world free from asbestos and its dangers.
Linda Reinstein