“It's been a long road, folks. But with today's ban, EPA is finally closing the door on an extremely dangerous chemical that is banned in more than 50 countries,” said EPA Administrator Michael Regan. Ta.
The agency's ban targets chrysotile asbestos, also known as “white asbestos.” Chrysotile asbestos is the only one of six minerals still in use in the United States. This heat- and fire-resistant mineral is used by companies that make vehicle braking systems and seat gaskets. Chemical manufacturers also defend the production of chlorine, which utilities use to purify drinking water, and its continued use in medicines and pesticides.
Michal Friedhoff, EPA's director of chemical safety and pollution prevention, said the ban is historic and marks the first time the nation's newest chemical safety law has been used to criminalize a hazardous substance. Stated. That law, the Toxic Substances Control Act, was so weakened by a 1991 federal court decision that allowed the continued import and use of asbestos that it became “almost powerless to protect the people who most need to protect it.” ,” Friedhoff said.
In 2016, long delays in America's asbestos response aroused bipartisan concern among members of Congress, who voted to overhaul the bill and give the EPA sweeping new powers to protect people from the toxin. .
But years passed with little action. When the Trump administration took office, the Office of Chemical Safety was downsized, leaving the agency smaller, underfunded and demoralized to accomplish its mission.
When Friedhoff took over as head of the chemicals regulator in 2021, banning asbestos was finally at the top of his to-do list. As a Congressional staff member, she helped craft the 2016 bill. In a call with reporters Monday, she said the new rules were “symbolic of how new laws can and must be used to protect people.”
Since its announcement two years ago, the American Chemistry Council, the trade group representing the chlorine industry, said chrysotile asbestos is still being used in about one-third of U.S. chlor-alkali plants that produce chlorine. It has been adamantly opposed to the government's proposed ban. . Industry groups have warned that banning this type of asbestos would make it harder for water utilities to purchase chlorine, threatening the safety of the country's drinking water.
Friedhoff said that once the EPA determined that some of those concerns were warranted, it changed its original enforcement schedule. Eight U.S. companies still using the technology will be given two years to phase out asbestos diaphragms used in the production of chlorine and sodium hydroxide, and in exchange, eight U.S. companies still using the technology will be given an alternative. You will have up to five years, and in some cases, more time. However, once the rule goes into effect 60 days after it is published in the Federal Register, imports of new asbestos diaphragms will be immediately prohibited.
Imports of asbestos-containing brake blocks, which risk exposing car mechanics to airborne fibers, will be phased out after six months. And asbestos gaskets will be banned in two years.
The change in compliance dates was a concession to chlorine manufacturers, most of whom had already transitioned away from asbestos-based technology, but it was not welcomed with enthusiasm by the chemical industry.
Steve Rizzotto, senior director of chemical protection and technology at the American Chemistry Council, said in a statement that supply chain bottlenecks and a lack of contractors mean the industry needs more time to comply. “The ACC has consistently maintained that a 15-year transition period is necessary to support an orderly transition and avoid significant disruption to chlorine and sodium hydroxide supplies,” he said. .
Environmental and public health advocates praised the new rules, argued that anything short of a total ban would not protect public health, and urged the Biden administration to do more to address other types of asbestos.
“I don't want to be a Debbie Downer, but it's not over yet,” said Linda Reinstein, president of the Asbestos Disability Awareness Group. In 2006, her husband died of mesothelioma, a cancer closely associated with asbestos exposure.
Alert that federal regulations could be overturned by the courts or weakened by future administrations, Reinstein advocated for legislation outlawing all asbestos fibers and all uses. ing. She is skeptical of the EPA's claim that chrysotile asbestos is the only form currently used in the United States.
“If you've never done product testing, if you've never looked for asbestos in consumer products, you don't know if asbestos is present,” she said, adding that more than a decade ago, a laboratory He added that tests were being conducted. At her organization's request, five products containing different combinations of asbestos fibers were identified, including children's toys.
Although asbestos use has decreased, construction workers, firefighters, emergency personnel, and others who spend time in older buildings are still exposed to it, primarily due to liability concerns. When building materials containing asbestos are destroyed or otherwise destroyed, fibers of the mineral can cling to skin and clothing and eventually enter a person's lungs. The chronic lung disease caused by inhaling asbestos even has a name: “asbestosis.”
