Asbestos is linked to tens of thousands of deaths annually and causes mesothelioma as well as other cancers. It has been largely phased out in the United States. Last year, the Biden administration sought to finish the decades-long fight by banning chrysotile asbestos. At the time, the EPA called it a milestone in the fight against cancer.
AP
In the mid-70s I worked for a law firm that handled the defense of a huge class action asbestos lawsuit. I thought this shit was a thing of the past.Saudi Arabia banned asbestos in 1998, Chile and Argentina did so in 2001, Australia in 2003. By 2005, asbestos was outlawed across the European Union. "It was a no-brainer," said Tatiana Santos, head of chemical policy at the European Environmental Bureau, a network of environmental citizens' groups.
America's EPA could have banned asbestos. Congress could have banned it. But over and over, they crumpled in the face of pressure from OxyChem and its peers in the chlorine industry.
NPR
Uh-huh.The Trump administration took a major step to weaken the regulation of toxic chemicals on Thursday when the Environmental Protection Agency announced that it would not ban a widely used pesticide that its own experts have linked to serious health problems in children.
[...]
It was the administration’s second major move this year to roll back or eliminate chemical safety rules. In April, the agency disregarded the advice of its own experts when officials issued a rule that restricted but did not ban asbestos, a known carcinogen. Agency scientists and lawyers had urged the E.P.A. to ban asbestos outright, as do most other industrialized nations.
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The Obama administration announced in 2015 that it would ban chlorpyrifos after scientific studies produced by the E.P.A. showed the pesticide had the potential to damage brain development in children. That ban had not yet come into force when, in 2017, Scott Pruitt, then the administrator of the E.P.A., reversed that decision, setting off a wave of legal challenges.
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The Trump administration has issued several other decisions in recent months relaxing environmental regulations. This week, the E.P.A. acknowledged a new policy doing away with surprise inspections of chemical and power plants. The “no surprises” policy is aimed at fostering better working relationship between the agency and states, E.P.A. officials wrote.
NYT
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.Last week, the E.P.A. approved broad use of the pesticide sulfoxaflor, which is known to harm bees. And this year the agency announced curbs on a lethal chemical found in paint-stripping products that represented a weakening of a ban that the Obama administration proposed.
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The E.P.A. decision is also one of the first concrete results of a separate Trump administration effort to restrict the use of scientific studies involving human subjects.
Under Mr. Pruitt, the agency proposed a rule saying it could not consider scientific research unless the raw data behind it was made public, saying the issue was a matter of transparency. Scientists argued that studies measuring human exposure to pesticides and other chemicals often rely on confidential health information and argued the E.P.A.’s real motivation was to restrict the ability to develop regulations.
Jesus, what were all those lawsuits involving severely damaged lungs for?One of the most dangerous construction-related carcinogens is now legally allowed back into U.S. manufacturing under a new rule by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Fast Company recently reported that on June 1, the EPA authorized a “SNUR” (Significant New Use Rule) which allows new products containing asbestos to be created on a case-by-case basis.
AN
What in Hell?? What's left? In flesh? And, if it's demonstrable that a person has an illness or dies from asbestos exposure, will they be able to sue for damages? We've been through this already. WTF?In May, the EPA released a report detailing its new framework for evaluating the risk of its top prioritized substances. The report states that the agency will no longer consider the effect or presence of substances in the air, ground, or water in its risk assessments.
It won't make its way into homes of the assholes who are permitting its use again. Bet.Asbestos was widely used in building insulation up until it was banned in most countries in the 1970s. The U.S. is one of the only developed nations in the world that has placed significant restrictions on the substance without banning it completely. New data revealed that asbestos-related deaths now total nearly 40,000 annually, with lung cancer and mesothelioma being the most common illnesses in association with the toxin. That number could rise if new asbestos-containing products make their way into new buildings.
Aha. Now I get it. Trump's masters have decreed that we should buy their toxic products.HBN’s Board President Bill Walsh said that the chlor-alkali industry is the only industry in the country that still uses asbestos, reportedly importing about 480 tons of the carcinogen each year from Russia and Brazil.
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As the world’s largest exporter of asbestos, the Russian company Uralasbest operates an enormous open mine nearly half the size of Manhattan in a mountainous town 900 miles northeast of Moscow.
The proletariat is expendable.The company has support from the government and President Vladimir Putin, even though their economic success exposes the local residents to major health risks. Once referred to as “the dying city,” Asbest’s residents have reported the carcinogenic dust is often found as a thick film over garden vegetables, laundry lines, and even on the floors of their homes.
Sure. You know - the mob that cares about environmental and human health issues. I'll tell you what's "led by the mob" - the Trump cabal.Trump has long been vocal about his skepticism on the harmful effects of asbestos, citing in his 1997 book, The Art of the Comeback, that anti-asbestos efforts were “led by the mob.”
Where is Uralasbest?One of the world's largest and producers and sellers of asbestos has reportedly begun placing a seal with President Trump's face on its products.
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Asbestos is classified by the U.S. government as a "known carcinogen" because of the evidence that suggests asbestos fibers can become lodged in the lungs and cause mesothelioma. It can also reportedly cause cancers of the lung, larynx and ovary.
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The Guardian reported on Wednesday that Uralasbest has adorned pallets of its products with Trump's face and the message, “Approved by Donald Trump, 45th president of the United States."
The Hill
Is there any Russian company that doesn't have ties with Putin? Everything I read about Russia and Trump mentions "ties with Putin".The news outlet noted that the move came after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) elected not to prohibit the new asbestos product outright.
"Donald is on our side!" Uralasbest announced in a Facebook post accompanied by the products with Trump's face stamped atop them.
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Uralasbest is located in Asbest, a mining city in the Ural Mountains of Russia. The Guardian notes that previous reports have said the company has ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, with whom Trump is set to meet in Finland this month.
