EPA bans remaining uses of asbestos

WASHINGTON (CN) — Federal regulators on Monday banned the final uses of the carcinogen asbestos in the United States, with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency strengthening an existing partial ban on the substance.

Some of the highest-profile uses of asbestos involved construction from the 1930s to the 1970s, now a major expense for homebuyers or developers when working on an older building. Those uses largely dissipated by the 1980s and the EPA banned them in 1989.

“It’s been more than 50 years since EPA first sought to ban some uses of asbestos and we’re closer than ever to finishing the job,” said Scott Faber, senior vice president of the Environmental Working Group. “For too long, polluters have been allowed to make, use and release toxics like asbestos and PFAS without regard for our health. Thanks to the leadership of the Biden EPA, those days are finally over.” 

The 1989 regulation, however, was largely overturned in the courts in 1991, but a 2016 law beefed up the EPA’s regulatory authority over toxic substances. 

“The science is clear — asbestos is a known carcinogen that has severe impacts on public health. That’s why EPA is so proud to finalize this long-needed ban on ongoing uses of asbestos,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a press release. “This action is just the beginning as we work to protect all American families, workers, and communities from toxic chemicals.”

Asbestos is banned in more than 50 countries and has fallen largely out of use in the U.S. The only known form of asbestos still used in the U.S. is chrysotile asbestos, which would be fully banned under the regulation.

Chrysotile asbestos is used in some brake pads and gaskets, but is mainly used in the chlor-alkali sector, which uses it to make sodium hydroxide and chlorine to disinfect drinking water and wastewater. However, the EPA noted only eight plants in the U.S. still use the carcinogen. Six of those facilities will complete the transition away from asbestos within five years, officials said.

The carcinogen is linked to lung, ovarian and colorectal cancer and, as anyone who’s watched late-night cable television over the past 15 years knows, mesothelioma. Asbestos exposure is linked to more than 40,000 deaths in the U.S. each year, the EPA said.

“An immediate ban on the import of chrysotile asbestos for the chlor-alkali industry is a long overdue step forward for public health,” Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley said. “However, it cannot be the end of the road when it comes to phasing out other dangerous asbestos fibers, and Congress has a role to play here when it comes to providing stronger protections for our health.”

The final regulation does allow use of asbestos-containing sheet gaskets to continue through 2037 at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina, where the federal government is still conducting environmental cleanup and disposal from plutonium and tritium production from the Cold War.

“Asbestos has harmed people across the country for decades, and under President Biden’s leadership, we are taking decisive action to ban its use and advance this administration’s historic environmental justice agenda,” said Brenda Mallory, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. “This action marks a major step to improve chemical safety after decades of inadequate protections.”

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