FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 30, 2024

ADAO ASKS COURT TO REQUIRE EPA TO STRENGTHEN CHRYSOTILE RULE TO BETTER PROTECT AMERICANS FROM ASBESTOS EXPOSURE 

Brief Highlights Fatal Gaps and Omissions in EPA Part 1 Final Asbestos Rule that Leave Public at Risk 

Washington, DC – The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO), an independent nonprofit dedicated to preventing asbestos exposure through education, advocacy, and community work, joined with seventeen co-petitioners in challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) failure to prevent unsafe exposure to asbestos under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). 

“Today we are urging the Court to recognize that the EPA has failed to provide the full protections that amended TSCA requires and to compel the Agency to strengthen the rule to prevent more needless deaths from asbestos-related diseases,” said Linda Reinstein, President and Co-Founder of ADAO.

“Since the TSCA was amended in 2016, we have repeatedly called on the EPA to fully eliminate asbestos imports and use and to permanently prevent the reintroduction of hazardous applications that were phased out in the U.S. but continue abroad. Unfortunately, the EPA’s current rule, while taking some important steps, is weak and limited. It falls far short of the comprehensive ban that this known human carcinogen demands and that the public rightfully deserves, as asbestos kills an estimated 40,000 Americans every year,” she concluded.

ADAO’s brief, filed with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, was joined by several noted public health organizations, unions, and leading scientific experts and medical doctors concerned about asbestos disease, including:

  • The American Public Health Association, 
  • Collegium Ramazzini, 
  • Two affiliates of the International Association of Fire Fighters (Local F-116 and Local F-253), 
  • The FeelGood Foundation
  • The following individuals: Henry A. Anderson, MD; Brad Black, MD; Barry Castleman, ScD; Raja Flores, MD; Arthur Frank, MD, PhD; Phil Landrigan, MD, MSc; Richard Lemen, PhD, MSPH; Steven Markowitz, MD, DrPH; Jacqueline Moline, MD, MSc; Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH; Christine Oliver, MD, MPH, MSc; and Andrea Wolf, MD, MPH.

“It is critical for EPA to get this important rule right – not only because asbestos is among the most dangerous industrial chemicals, but because Congress viewed EPA’s inability to ban asbestos under the old TSCA as a major failing that warranted a stronger law,” said Bob Sussman, former senior  EPA official and counsel for ADAO and the 17 co-petitioners. “Now that EPA has the tools, it should use them to the fullest. That’s why we’re asking the Court to require EPA to strengthen the rule and provide more protection against asbestos disease.” 

In their brief, ADAO and its partners emphasize the following flaws in the rule: 

  1. Incomplete Regulation of Asbestos Conditions of Use:  EPA’s current rule only addresses six chrysotile asbestos conditions of use (COUs), leaving out many other ongoing uses, the five other asbestos fiber types, and all reasonably foreseeable future uses.
  2. Chlor-Alkali Industry Compliance Delays: The rule’s allowance of up to 12 years for one chlor-alkali producer to transition away from asbestos is longer than TSCA permits and will unnecessarily expose workers to unreasonable risks.
  3. Asbestos in Vehicle Repairs: The EPA failed to regulate the ongoing risks associated with the repair and replacement of asbestos-containing parts in vehicles, which puts mechanics, bystanders, and consumers at continued risk.
  4. Environmental Exposure Exclusion: The EPA’s risk evaluation for asbestos claims that TSCA does not apply to environmental pathways by which asbestos can harm vulnerable communities despite known risks from asbestos in air, water, and waste.
  5. No Regulation of Dangerous Importation and Transportation Spills and Releases:  EPA assumes that these events cannot happen and cannot pose an unreasonable risk despite recognizing that there are multiple pathways or releases and other accidents when asbestos is imported and distributed in commerce.      

EPA’s rule is also being challenged by the American Chemistry Council and other industry groups whose corporate profit-driven agenda has put public health in jeopardy.  In a future brief, ADAO will rebut these efforts to further undermine this rule, which is already inadequate under TSCA. 

ADAO also filed three declarations on behalf of petitioners to demonstrate standing. The declarations were filed by Linda Reinstein of ADAO, Dr. Georges Benjamin of the American Public Health Association, and Mike Jackson of Local F-253, International Association of Fire Fighters.

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