18th Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization Congressional Staff Briefing Resources (July 2023)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY EXPERTS URGE CONGRESS TO BAN ASBESTOS IN CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFING

Speakers Highlight the Human Cost of Asbestos Exposure

July 24, 2023

WASHINGTON, DC — The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO), an independent nonprofit dedicated to preventing asbestos exposure through education, advocacy, and community initiatives, today held its 18th Congressional Staff Briefing, “Impact of Asbestos on Public Health, Environment, and Economy.” Experts urged Congress to ban asbestos, highlighting that it causes 40,000 preventable deaths per year in the U.S. from asbestos-related diseases.

“Congress has a duty to protect the public health and safety of Americans and end the decades of unnecessary suffering and death that asbestos, a deadly carcinogen, has caused,” said Linda Reinstein, co-founder and President of ADAO. “There is no safe or controlled use.”

The Alan Reinstein Ban Asbestos Now (ARBAN) Act, will ban all six asbestos fibers – chrysotile, crocidolite, amosite, anthophyllite, tremolite, and actinolite, plus Libby Amphibole (winchite, and richterite) in all conditions of use. Nearly all U.S. chlor-alkali corporations now support a transition away from asbestos technology. Yet in 2022, OxyChem, one of the few remaining users of asbestos, imported an estimated 300 metric tons of raw asbestos. 

“Olin is the chlor-alkali industry leader, and the actions that our industry takes are the linchpin to ending the use of asbestos in this country,” Scott Sutton, CEO, Olin Corporation. “Olin has a clear path to end the use of asbestos, and we encourage the other key asbestos chlor-alkali players to support Olin’s plan. It is time to come together and end the use of asbestos.” 

“Banning asbestos imports and use in the United States, as more than 70 other countries around the world have already done, is decades overdue,” Reinstein said. “We will continue to push Congress to take action and save lives.” she concluded.

“Asbestos is deadly. By passing ARBAN, Congress can save more lives with a vote than I can with a scalpel. They must act,” urged Raja Flores, MD, Chair of the Department of Thoracic Surgery, Mount Sinai School of Medicine. 

The briefing featured a variety of experts who spoke on different aspects of the asbestos problem, including: 

  • Raja Flores, MD; Chair of the Department of Thoracic Surgery, Mount Sinai School of Medicine;
  • Mike Meenan, Olin Corporation
  • Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH, American Public Health Association (APHA)
  • Linda Reinstein, President and Co-founder, Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization 
  • Greg Russell, International Association of Fire Fighters
  • Robert Sussman, JD., Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization counsel and former EPA senior official 
  • James Williams, Jr., American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, Inc.

For more details on the briefing, including expanded statements by the speakers, please visit the 2023 Briefing Resource Page.

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ABOUT ASBESTOS DISEASE AWARENESS ORGANIZATION
Founded in 2004, the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) is the largest independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit in the U.S. dedicated to preventing asbestos exposure to eliminate asbestos-related diseases through education, advocacy, and community initiatives.