{"id":1910,"date":"2022-10-27T17:12:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-27T21:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/lawmakers-and-public-health-advocates-call-for-congress-to-finally-ban-asbestos\/"},"modified":"2023-07-24T11:04:44","modified_gmt":"2023-07-24T15:04:44","slug":"lawmakers-and-public-health-advocates-call-for-congress-to-finally-ban-asbestos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/lawmakers-and-public-health-advocates-call-for-congress-to-finally-ban-asbestos\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawmakers and Public Health Advocates Call for Congress to Finally Ban Asbestos"},"content":{"rendered":"

Days after ProP\u00fablica
\ndetailed dangerous working conditions<\/a> at a chlorine plant that used
\nasbestos until it closed last year, public health advocates and two U.S.
\nlawmakers are renewing calls for Congress to ban the carcinogen.<\/p>\n

“American workers are dying from asbestos. It is way
\npast time to end its use,” said Senador
\nJeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon<\/a>. “This ProPublica report confirms
\nour worst fears: workers dealing with asbestos are often left vulnerable to
\nthis deadly, dangerous substance.”<\/p>\n

Merkley and Reps.
\nSuzanne Bonamici, D-Ore.<\/a>, are sponsoring the Alan Reinstein Ban Asbestos
\nNow Act, which would permanently ban the importing and use of asbestos. The
\nproposed legislation is named after Alan Reinstein, who died in 2006 from
\nmesothelioma, a cancer caused by asbestos. Alan’s wife, Linda, co-founded the
\nAsbestos Disease Awareness Organization, one of the leading nonprofits that has
\nadvocated for protecting the public from the dangers of asbestos.<\/p>\n

The lack of a ban “puts workers, their families, and
\nthe surrounding communities at risk for deadly disease and death from asbestos
\nexposure, which as ProPublica detailed, is sickeningly frequent and widespread
\nand without consequences for the companies that allow it to continue,”
\nsaid Linda Reinstein in a statement.<\/p>\n

Reinstein has helped build a coalition of doctors, public
\nhealth experts, trade unions and advocates to push Congress to pass the
\nasbestos ban. This week, Reinstein’s organization enviado
\nletters to members of Congress<\/a> calling for their support and
\nhighlighting the findings of the ProPublica investigation.<\/p>\n

“This powerful article explodes the decades-long claim
\nof the chlor-alkali industry that its use of asbestos is safe for
\nworkers,” said Bob Sussman, a former deputy administrator for the
\nEnvironmental Protection Agency during the Clinton administration who now works
\nas counsel for the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization. “There can no
\nlonger be any doubt that, as EPA has found, asbestos-using plants present a
\nserious risk to the worker health and this risk must be eliminated.”<\/p>\n

The lawmakers filed the bill in May and it had one Senate
\ncommittee hearing in June. Since the ProPublica report was published en
\ncollaboration with NPR<\/a> last Thursday, three House members have signed
\non to co-sponsor
\nthe bill<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Unlike dozens of other countries, the United States has
\nnever fully banned asbestos. The EPA made an attempt to do so in 1989, but it
\nwas overturned in federal court in 1991, and efforts by lawmakers to outlaw the
\ncarcinogen have repeatedly fallen short. Meanwhile, the chemical industry has
\ncontinued to import hundreds of tons of asbestos – more than 200,000 pounds –
\nevery year for use in chlorine production plants.<\/p>\n

The industry has long fought against a ban by saying its
\nworkers were well protected by strict safety measures and strong workplace
\nsafety regulations. Public health organizations and lawmakers had suspected
\nthat those safety claims were exaggerated, but for years were unable to assess
\nthe conditions inside these plants.<\/p>\n

The ProPublica investigation found that safety standards
\nwere routinely disregarded at what was once America’s longest-standing chlorine
\nplant. Workers at the OxyChem Niagara Falls plant said asbestos would splatter
\non the ceilings and walls, roll across the floor like tumbleweeds and stick to
\nworkers’ clothes. Windows and doors were left open, allowing asbestos dust to
\nescape. The company\u2019s own industrial hygiene monitoring showed their workers
\nwere repeatedly exposed to unsafe levels. Federal workplace regulators had also
\nstopped conducting regular unannounced inspections at the plant; the
\nOccupational Safety and Health Administration included the Niagara Falls site
\nand others like it in a special program for “exemplary” workplaces.<\/p>\n

In response to ProPublica\u2019s reporting, OxyChem said the
\nhealth and safety of its workers is its top priority. The company said the
\nworkers\u2019 accounts from Niagara Falls were inaccurate, but wouldn\u2019t provide
\nspecifics on what was incorrect. The plant closed last year for unrelated
\nreasons. Eight other plants in the U.S. still use asbestos.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s devastating to see at every step of the way
\nwhere worker safety wasn\u2019t protected: by the companies, and by the EPA and OSHA
\nduring past administrations,” said Merkley.<\/p>\n

Asbestos is a toxic mineral that can cause serious illnesses
\nlike scarring of the lungs, called asbestosis, and mesothelioma, a vicious
\ncancer that kills most victims within a few years. The government\u2019s inability
\nto ban asbestos has been cited as one of the greatest failures of the U.S. chemical
\nregulatory system. “The system was so complex, it was so burdensome that
\nour country hasn\u2019t even been able to uphold a ban on asbestos – a known
\ncarcinogen that kills as many as 10,000 Americans every year,” President
\nBarack Obama said in 2016 on the day he signed legislation meant to fix these
\nproblems.<\/p>\n

Later that year, the EPA began the formal process of
\nre-evaluating the risks associated with asbestos. It took five years, and in
\n2020, the agency determined chlorine workers were at “unreasonable
\nrisk<\/a>” from their exposure to asbestos.<\/p>\n

In April, the EPA proposed a new asbestos ban. The rule
\nneeds to be finalized before it goes into effect, and the EPA has said that it
\nis planning to be done with that process by November 2023. In that time, EPA
\nwill consider industry arguments against a ban, including claims that workers
\nface little risk of exposure. The chemical companies have also argued the ban
\ncould disrupt the country\u2019s supply of chlorine used to clean drinking water,
\neven though public health advocates say only a small portion of chlorine from
\nasbestos-reliant plants is used for that purpose. Twelve Republican attorneys general
\nhave backed the companies and said an asbestos ban would place a “heavy
\nand unreasonable burden<\/a>” on the industry.<\/p>\n

Two key trade associations, the American
\nChemistry Council<\/a> y El
\nChlorine Institute<\/a>, said in statements this week that they continue to
\nbelieve asbestos is used safely in the chlorine industry.<\/p>\n

Michal Freedoff, the official in charge of chemical
\nregulation at EPA, told ProPublica she could not comment on the final
\nrule-making process but said the agency would not be backing down on the
\nscience.<\/p>\n

The agency has already extended the original deadlines for
\nevaluating and regulating asbestos. The evaluation was supposed to be complete
\nthree years after it started in 2016, and the regulations should have been
\nfinalized within two years after that. Lawmakers and public health advocates
\nworry, given the chemical industry\u2019s influence, that there will be even further
\ndelays or a new ban will be held up in court. (In response, the EPA pointed out
\nthat despite an increased workload, its budget for chemical regulation has
\nremained flat for six years. It also said the Trump administration missed
\ndeadlines for nine out of the first 10 chemicals, including asbestos, that were
\nto be regulated under the new 2016 law.)<\/p>\n

Organizations like the Environmental Defense Fund are
\ncalling for the EPA to expedite its ban, especially given the findings in the
\nProPublica investigation. The “reporting underscores the need to take
\naction to ban chrysotile asbestos, particularly to protect workers,” said
\nMaria Doa, senior director of chemicals policy at the Environmental Defense
\nFund. “Given the strong, well-established science on the unreasonable
\nrisks posed by chrysotile asbestos, we reiterate our call for EPA to expedite
\nits final decision to ban chrysotile asbestos and to require rapid
\nimplementation of the ban.”<\/p>\n

Merkley and Bonamici, along with the Asbestos Disease
\nAwareness Organization, are instead pushing Congress to write a ban into law,
\nwhich would accelerate the process and make it harder for the industry to
\noverturn it in court. The bill would ban all six known types of asbestos,
\nwhereas the EPA rule would only ban the one type primarily used in the U.S.<\/p>\n

ProPublica reached out to Senador
\nTom Carper, D-Del.<\/a>, y Reps.
\nFrank Pallone, D-N.J.<\/a>, the chairs of the committees where the bill was
\nfiled. Carper said he remains “committed to working with our colleagues on
\nboth sides of the aisle, as well as advocates and industry stakeholders”
\non the proposal. Pallone, however, said he believed the EPA will act on
\nasbestos. “I\u2019m confident the Biden Administration takes this public health
\nthreat as seriously as I do, and look forward to continuing to work with them
\nto get asbestos banned once and for all,” he said in a statement. The
\nminority leaders of the committees, Senador
\nShelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va.<\/a>, y Reps.
\nCathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash.<\/a>, did not respond to questions or provide
\ncomment on the conditions at the Niagara Falls plant<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Days after ProPublica detailed dangerous working conditions at a chlorine plant that used asbestos until it closed last year, public health advocates and two U.S. lawmakers are renewing calls for Congress to ban the carcinogen. “American workers are dying from asbestos. It is way past time to end its use,” said Sen. Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon. 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