Posted on March 24, 2021

Each year, an estimated 40,000 Americans die from preventable asbestos-caused diseases, yet asbestos imports and usage continue. 

Six critical public health principles must guide our asbestos policy making: 

  1. We must ban the importation and use of asbestos and asbestos-containing products in the U.S. within one year of enactment. 
  2. Chlor-alkali plants using asbestos diaphragms must be required to eliminate the use of asbestos and convert to non-asbestos technology following a limited transition period. 
  3. Current and recent importers, processors and distributors of asbestos and asbestos-containing products must be required to report and disclose to the public how much asbestos is in U.S. commerce, where and how it is used, and who is exposed.   
  4. The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) must conduct a comprehensive study of risks presented by “legacy” asbestos used decades ago in building construction but still present in millions of residences, businesses, factories, public buildings, and schools, and EPA must then take action to reduce these risks based on the NAS findings. 
  5. The presence of asbestos contaminants in consumer and industrial products and construction materials must be stringently controlled. 
  6. The hazardous Libby Amphibole form of asbestos, found in attic insulation in millions of homes across the U.S., must also be covered by an asbestos ban.