FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 11, 2020
CONTACT: courtney@upshiftstrategies.com
Washington, D.C. —“The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) applauds the Science Advisory Committee on Chemicals (SACC) for its rigorous review of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Draft Risk Evaluation for Asbestos,” said Linda Reinstein, ADAO Cofounder.
According to Reinstein, “Throughout four days of intense discussion and questioning of EPA scientists, the SACC raised fundamental concerns about the limited and incomplete scope of the draft evaluation. The committee pointed to the narrow review of chrysotile asbestos, and the unmentioned prevalence of amosite, crocidolite, anthophyllite, tremolite and actinolite which are often found in talc. The evaluation also failed to consider several serious diseases linked to asbestos, and excluded reference to existing asbestos-contaminated consumer products. The SACC was also deeply troubled by EPA’s failure to address legacy asbestos and the extreme difficulty of providing a meaningful picture of asbestos’s risks without accounting for this important exposure pathway which affects millions of Americans.
“This is yet more evidence that EPA is simply not up to the job of protecting Americans from the enormous toll of disease and death that asbestos continues to impose. This incomplete and dangerously narrow asbestos risk evaluation guarantees that the true risk will be underestimated and ignored forever,” said Reinstein. “It’s time for EPA to do their job. Ultimately, what the American public needs is an asbestos ban without loopholes or exemptions.”
Bob Sussman, former EPA senior official and ADAO counsel, said that “The SAAC’s devastating critique demonstrates that EPA has reached a dead end with this draft evaluation and must go back to the drawing board and rethink how to craft an assessment of asbestos which has real value for public health protection.”
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About the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization
The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) was founded by asbestos victims and their families in 2004. ADAO is the largest non-profit in the U.S. dedicated to providing asbestos victims and concerned citizens with a united voice through our education, advocacy, and community initiatives. ADAO seeks to raise public awareness about the dangers of asbestos exposure, advocate for an asbestos ban, and protect asbestos victims’ civil rights. For more information, visit www.asbestosdiseaseawareness.org