VIDEO: New ADAO Video || “The Ban Asbestos Legislative Movement: From Our Homes to The Hill” 

Posted on June 14, 2019

Every day, 100 Americans die from preventable asbestos-caused diseases, yet imports and use continue. Shockingly, 750 metric tons were imported in 2018 for the chlor-alkali industry’s use alone.  

ADAO’s newest advocacy video tells the story of the most recent developments in the ban asbestos movement the best way we know how: by letting the people speak for themselves.

“Mesothelioma is a miserable disease,” says Debbie, a mesothelioma victim, who died in 2013.

Micheal, another mesothelioma victim who lost his life to the disease, laments his own appearance with words that no 29-old-year show ever have to say, “Look at me in my hospice death bed.”

The ban asbestos movement has faced many challenges — rising asbestos imports, public confusion over recent EPA policy changes, and a U.S. president with a long-standing love for this lethal carcinogen. In fact, in 2005 Trump said, “A lot of people in my industry think asbestos is the greatest fireproofing material ever made.”

Despite these speed bumps, we’ve taken bold steps forward.

As this video shows, powerful lawmakers in both the House and Senate have stepped up to become true ban asbestos champions. When Representative Frank Pallone Jr (D-NJ), chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and our longtime ally Representative Paul Tonko (D-NY) invited me to testify before the House of Representatives’ first-ever legislative hearing on banning asbestos, they sent a message to the rest of Washington: The U.S. is ready for a no-loopholes, no-exemptions asbestos ban.

During the hearing, Representative Tonko outlined the problem of widespread asbestos during the hearing when he said, “Asbestos can be found in countless consumer products despite our knowing for decades that it is indeed harmful to human health.”

Chairman Pallone followed by highlighting the current EPA’s ineffectiveness at regulating asbestos, “The Trump EPA is not using the tools

[our Congress] gave it to regulate dangerous chemicals.”

There was bipartisan concern voiced at the hearing and on The Hill. Members now echo the voices of victims like Debbie and Michael who died from mesothelioma, who never gave up the fight for an asbestos-free world after being diagnosed with mesothelioma. They mirror the spirit of the protestors who took to the streets last April for the first-ever March for Justice and Remembrance, an anti-asbestos demonstration that occurred in Washington, D.C., and they are delivering ADAO’s message: prevention is the only cure.

Today these activists have joined forces  behind the bicameral Alan Reinstein Ban Asbestos Now Act (ARBAN) which when passed, would ban all use and imports of asbestos within a year, among other policy changes that will help protect Americans from the asbestos risk already present in our country.  

Together, we have created a movement, and we are making change happen. Knowledge is power, and the more people who understand the risk and the need for a ban, the stronger our fight. Join us and share this video with your friends, family, and social networks.

A national ban is within our reach.

Linda
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