Top Ten ADAO Blogs of 2025: Prevention, Policy, and Accountability

As 2025 comes to a close, it stands as one of the most consequential years in ADAO’s two decades of evidence-based advocacy. Prevention was advanced. Accountability was tested. Transparency was demanded. And once again, asbestos, despite overwhelming scientific consensus, proved that regulation without enforcement and legislation without urgency leave people at risk.

A clear throughline emerged throughout the year: legacy asbestos is not a thing of the past. It is a present-day public health threat, intensified by environmental disasters, regulatory gaps, and delayed political action.

Below are ten defining blog posts from 2025 that shaped the national conversation on asbestos.

Top Ten ADAO Blogs of 2025

1. Los Angeles Fires: When Climate Disaster Meets Legacy Asbestos (January)

The wildfires in Los Angeles exposed a critical failure in federal preparedness. Older homes, schools, and public buildings burned without systematic asbestos controls, releasing toxic fibers into communities already facing displacement and loss.

The lesson was unmistakable: legacy asbestos becomes airborne during disasters, yet there is no enforceable national framework to protect residents, first responders, or cleanup workers. As climate-driven disasters accelerate, asbestos regulation has failed to keep pace.

2. The Reintroduction of the Alan Reinstein Ban Asbestos Now (ARBAN) Act (September)

In 2025, the ARBAN Act was reintroduced in both chambers on a bipartisan basis, again underscoring that only a statutory ban can permanently end asbestos use and imports in the United States.

Regulatory rules can be delayed, weakened, or overturned. Legislation endures. ARBAN remains the most direct and durable path to prevention for workers, communities, and future generations.

3. Legal Action to Hold the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Accountable

ADAO’s decision to challenge the EPA was not symbolic; it was necessary. While the agency finalized a landmark asbestos rule in 2024, it failed to address legacy asbestos and emergency scenarios, leaving millions unprotected.

Litigation became a tool of last resort to defend science, protect workers, and reaffirm that public health law is not optional.

4. Global Asbestos Awareness Week (GAAW) and the 20th Congressional Resolution (April)

GAAW 2025 marked a milestone year, with renewed congressional recognition of asbestos as a continuing public health hazard.

The resolution reaffirmed prevention as national policy, amplified survivor voices, and reinforced bipartisan acknowledgment that asbestos disease is entirely preventable, if action follows awareness.

5. Technology for Prevention: The Asbestos Action Navigator (September)

In 2025, ADAO expanded its digital prevention tools with the Asbestos Action Navigator, designed to deliver accurate, actionable information to workers, families, advocates, and policymakers.

Technology does not replace regulation. It closes knowledge gaps, counters misinformation, and saves lives when time and clarity matter most.

6. White House East Wing Demolition: Transparency Put to the Test (October)

The demolition of the White House East Wing raised urgent questions: Where were the asbestos abatement records? Who was protected? Why were compliance documents not publicly available?

If the White House does not model transparency, public trust nationwide is weakened. This moment underscored that oversight matters most when accountability and safety intersect.

7. FOIA as a Public Health Tool (November)

Throughout 2025, ADAO relied on Freedom of Information Act requests to uncover missing records, delayed responses, and compliance gaps across multiple federal agencies related to the East Wing demolition.

FOIA is not bureaucracy; it is a safeguard. When agencies withhold information, public health suffers.

8. The 20th Annual Asbestos Awareness and Prevention Conference (AAPC) (September)

The 20th AAPC convened scientists, physicians, legal experts, policymakers, and advocates from around the world.

The conference reaffirmed three enduring truths:

Asbestos disease remains underdiagnosed
Prevention is the only cure
Global collaboration strengthens national policy

9. Art and Advocacy: Earl Dotter and the Power of Visual Truth (August)

In 2025, ADAO continued to elevate art as a vehicle for accountability and justice. Earl Dotter’s BADGES posters and visual storytelling reminded audiences that behind every policy debate is a human life.

Art does what statistics cannot. It makes harm visible.

10. Warren and Jordan Zevon: Two Events, One Legacy (October-November)

Two Zevon-related events in 2025 honored Warren Zevon’s life and legacy and elevated Jordan Zevon’s leadership in asbestos prevention.

Their advocacy bridged music, memory, and mission, demonstrating how personal loss can drive public good and lasting change.

The Throughline of 2025

From wildfires to federal courtrooms, from Congress to conferences, 2025 made one reality clear: asbestos remains a modern crisis hidden inside legacy structures and outdated laws.

Prevention requires more than promises.
Policy requires enforcement.
And accountability requires action.

Onward. Together.

Linda