U.S. President Donald Trump’s image emblazoned on bags of asbestos produced by Russian manufacturer Uralasbest – Source: Uralasbest Facebook
At one time, asbestos was among the most common building materials, used for insulation and as an additive for cement. Once the health risks of the substance became well-known, including mesothelioma and lung cancer, asbestos were phased out in most countries. And while the U.S. never outright banned the substance, severe restrictions were enacted, and asbestos became one of the first carcinogens to be regulated by the Clean Air Act of 1973. But the Environmental Protection Agency has plans to make asbestos great again, as the agency has proposed a framework to create opportunities for “news uses” of asbestos.
On June 1, the EPA announced plans for a “Significant New Use Rule” on asbestos that would allow new uses of the substance. While the proposed framework wouldn’t allow currently banned usages of asbestos (at least not yet) it would affect a wide range of manufacturing uses the EPA has identified as “no longer ongoing.” This includes adhesives and sealants, coatings, reinforced plastics, and several other types of building materials. In short, the Trump EPA is actually proposing to bring back the manufacture and importation of asbestos for various products.
In addition, documents released by the EPA indicate that the agency will no longer review exposures from abandoned uses of asbestos, and will dramatically scale back its safety evaluations for 10 chemicals under the revamped Toxic Substances Control Act.
Donald Trump has gone on record multiple times praising asbestos, going so far as to declare the substance to be “100 percent safe, once applied.” In his book “The Art of the Comeback,” Trump theorized that the ban on asbestos was a mafia conspiracy:
“I believe that the movement against asbestos was led by the mob, because it was often mob-related companies that would do the asbestos removal. Great pressure was put on politicians, and as usual, the politicians relented. Millions of truckloads of this incredible fire-proofing material were taken to special ‘dump sites’ and asbestos was replaced by materials that were supposedly safe but couldn’t hold a candle to asbestos in limiting the ravages of fire.”
Despite the president’s theory, which is surely fact-based and grounded in reality, the science shows that direct or indirect exposure to asbestos can cause lung cancer and mesothelioma, and kills 40,000 Americans annually. The World Health Organization has concluded that there is no safe form of asbestos, and that all types of the substance are carcinogenic. Any new uses for asbestos will only expedite a very old problem: innocent people dying in the name of corporate profit.
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