U.S. House of Representatives working on law to ban asbestos

Sep 22, 2008

Forty countries around the globe—indeed all of the European Union—have banned the use of asbestos, yet not the U.S. In 1989, when the EPA instituted a prohibition, the powerful Canadian asbestos industry took the matter to court and the ban was overturned for technical reasons. The U.S. House of Representatives is now poised to bring the nation in line with the European Union and many other countries by passing a health oriented bill that would ban the use and sale of asbestos. The law is sponsored by Texas Democrat Gene Green, who chairs the House subcommittee on Environment and Hazardous Materials. The aim of the proposed legislation is to protect the public from a dangerous substance that has long been known to cause a variety of incurable lung diseases, including asbestosis and mesothelioma.

Unlike a previous attempt initiated by the Senate, the House bill would tolerate zero percent asbestos in products and just 0.001 percent of five different minerals that are often contaminated with asbestos fibers: calcium carbonate, talc, vermiculite, olivine, and wollastonite. The proposed legislation would forbid the sale of asbestos-contaminated by-product from taconite iron mining, which waste is now sold for road and runway surfacing. And, the law would prohibit the sale of asbestos-tainted talc, which health investigators have long warned is toxic to workers and consumers alike.

Health advocates in the asbestos arena have embraced the bill. Linda Reinstein, executive director of Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization, emphasized: “The public relies on congress to protect it from known dangerous substances. This ban must be passed into law so we can finally eradicate the deadly diseases caused from asbestos exposure that plagues so many families.”

For the full story, go to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer blog.

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