EPA To Propose Restrictions On Asbestos

New York Times National

EPA said it intends to ban one form of asbestos, the first time the federal government has moved to significantly restrict the toxic industrial material since 1989. Under the regulation proposed Tuesday, the EPA would prohibit the use, manufacture and import of chrysotile asbestos, a type of asbestos that has been linked to lung cancer and mesothelioma. It would still be legal to import other types of asbestos but companies are required to notify the E.P.A. before importing any product known to contain asbestos fibers, and the agency has the authority to deny those imports. 

For the full text, click here. 

EPA Proposes to Ban Ongoing Uses of Chrysotile Asbestos, Other Fiber Types Still Under Consideration

Environmental Protection Agency
April 5, 2022

Washington, DC – Today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking action to protect people from asbestos exposure by releasing a proposed rule to prohibit ongoing uses of Chrysotile asbestos, the only known form of asbestos currently imported into the U.S. This proposed rule is the first-ever risk management rule issued under the new process for evaluating and addressing the safety of existing chemicals under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) that was enacted in 2016. The proposed rule would ban Chrysotile asbestos, which is found in products like asbestos diaphragms (used in the chlor-alkali industry), sheet gaskets, brake blocks, aftermarket automotive brakes/linings, other vehicle friction products, and other gaskets also imported into the U.S. 

The chrysotile asbestos ban is “a landmark step forward,” said Linda Reinstein, president of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization, an EIA partner. In 2006, her husband died of mesothelioma, a cancer tied to asbestos exposure. “The reality is now we have part one,” Reinstein said. “But anything less than a full ban doesn’t protect public health.”

For the full text of this release, click here. To access the pre-publication notice to the Federal Register of the proposed rule, click here.

J&J’S Controversial Asbestos Prison Testing Resurfaces in Baby Powder Lawsuit

Bloomberg by Jeff Feely New Brunswick, NJ

More than 50 years ago, nearly a dozen men incarcerated outside of Philadelphia enrolled in an experiment funded by Johnson & Johnson, according to unsealed documents. Now, those studies have come back to haunt the world’s largest maker of health-care products. In one study, inmates were paid to be injected with potentially cancer-causing asbestos so the company could compare its effect on their skin versus that of talc, a key component in its iconic baby powder. 

For the full text, click here.

Interaction With Lung Cells Transforms Asbestos Particles

University of Pennsylvania – Penn Today Philadelphia, PA

Biomedical researchers have spent many years trying to understand how asbestos causes disease, though multiple pieces of the puzzle remain unknown. Taking a completely different approach, an international team led by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, looked instead at how the interactions change the mineral itself. The research grew out of a larger set of experiments on asbestos undertaken through Penn’s Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology. Though a common term, the word “asbestos” is not a scientific one, but rather is used in industry to refer to a wide range of minerals with varying structures and chemical compositions. 

 Click here for the full article. 

EPA Extends Comment Period for Draft Scope of Asbestos Part 2 Risk Evaluation to Be Conducted Under TSCA

EPA Washington, DC

Following EPA’s June 2016 designation of asbestos as one of the first ten chemicals to undergo risk evaluation under TSCA, as amended by Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, EPA initially focused the risk evaluation for asbestos on chrysotile asbestos as this is the only asbestos fiber type that is currently imported, processed, or distributed in the U.S. However, as a result of the November 2019 decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Safer Chemicals Healthy Families v. EPA, EPA plans to evaluate legacy uses and associated disposals, other types of asbestos fibers in addition to chrysotile, and conditions of use of asbestos in talc and talc-containing products in a supplemental effort that is the focus of part 2 of the risk evaluation for asbestos. 

For the full text, click here.

To access the Draft Risk Evaluation, click here.

EPA Extends Comment Period for Draft Scope of Asbestos Part 2 Risk Evaluation to Be Conducted Under TSCA

EPA Washington, DC

Following EPA’s June 2016 designation of asbestos as one of the first ten chemicals to undergo risk evaluation under TSCA, as amended by Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, EPA initially focused the risk evaluation for asbestos on chrysotile asbestos as this is the only asbestos fiber type that is currently imported, processed, or distributed in the U.S. However, as a result of the November 2019 decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Safer Chemicals Healthy Families v. EPA, EPA plans to evaluate legacy uses and associated disposals, other types of asbestos fibers in addition to chrysotile, and conditions of use of asbestos in talc and talc-containing products in a supplemental effort that is the focus of part 2 of the risk evaluation for asbestos. 

For the full text, click here.

To access the Draft Risk Evaluation, click here.

Center for Asbestos Related Disease Article Illuminates High Levels of Asbestos Related Mortality

ABC Montana Right Now

Libby, MT –  In December 2021, an article was accepted for publication in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine which looked at mortality rates of Libby asbestos workers and local residents between 2000 and 2010. Co-authored by nationwide collaborators and Center for Asbestos Related Disease (CARD) staff, the article, after presenting the history of the asbestos public health emergency in Libby, looked at death certificate and record review data for the 203 patients exposed to Libby Amphibole and diagnosed with either asbestos related cancers or non-malignant asbestos related lung disease who died during this time frame. 

Click here for the full article.

EPA Submits TSCA Section (6a) Rulemaking On Asbestos (Part 1: Chrysotile Asbestos) to OMB for Review

National Law Review Washington, DC

On December 16, 2021, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) submitted to the Office of Management Budget (OMB) a proposed rule under Section 6(a) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) on asbestos (part 1: chrysotile asbestos). According to an item in the fall 2021 Unified Agenda, the TSCA Section 6(a) rulemaking is needed to address the unreasonable risks of chrysotile asbestos that were identified in a risk evaluation completed under TSCA Section 6(b). 

Click here for the full article. 

New Data Raises Questions About Asbestos Containment Strategy

Chemical and Engineering News National

When dealing with asbestos waste, digging up and removing large amounts of contaminated soil can be risky, as it can send asbestos fibers into the air. So, rather than remove all the contaminated dirt, the EPA often caps a site with more soil. Scientists thought that these soil caps would trap the long, thin fibers and prevent them from escaping. But a new peer-reviewed laboratory study shows a potential escape route for these fibers. The findings, first presented as preliminary data in 2016, demonstrate that the presence of certain organic material in soil can actually enhance the mobility of asbestos fibers. Click here for the full article. 

Daines Could Play Key Role As the First GOP Sponsor of Asbestos Ban Bill

Montana Standard David McCumber

Washington, DC – For the first time, an asbestos-ban bill in Congress may have the sponsorship of a Republican senator — Montana’s Steve Daines — signaling improved chances of passage. Even though asbestos has been a known human carcinogen for more than a century, it is legal in the United States to import, manufacture, and market products containing the deadly fibers. The issue is of particular concern in Montana because of widespread contamination and hundreds of deaths in and near Libby from a vermiculite mine, the ore of which was contaminated with a particularly dangerous form of asbestos. Click here for the full article.