The Environmental Protection Agency will no longer evaluate asbestos in homes and businesses as a danger or health risk, as Newsweek
reports. Scott Pruitt announced the decision last Friday under
President Trump, who believes asbestos is “100 percent safe, once
applied.”According to the Abestos Nation Campaign,
asbestos kills 12,000 to 15,000 Americans every year. Fifty-five
countries have completely banned the use of asbestos in any case,
including the United Kingdom, South Africa,
Japan and so on, in spite of which the EPA decided it was no longer
necessary to evaluate the health risks of this chemical. The EPA will
continue to evaluate and require approval for any new introduction or
use of asbestos in the environment, but let the already-present chemical
remain in schools, houses and public buildings. This decision comes
shortly after the 2016 amendments to the Toxic Substances Control Act.
These amendments made it mandatory for the EPA to do safety reviews of
dangerous chemicals, such as asbestos, and create public notices of the
safety information for those chemicals. The amendments also allowed the
EPA to ban the use of asbestos in particular cases.The EPA’s decision didn’t draw any backlash from the current
administration because it aligns with Trump’s opinions on asbestos — Trump
wrote about the chemical in his 1997 book, The Art of the Comeback.
He wrote, “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.”However, the decision is facing extreme backlash from
organizations such as the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization. The
President of the organization Linda Reinstein stated, “The end result
will be a seriously inadequate risk evaluation that fails to address
major contributors to the heavy and growing toll of asbestos mortality
and disease in the United States.” Reinstein sat down with the EPA
Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention’s deputy assistant
administrator Nancy Beck to discuss the decision. Reinstein was joined
by the International Association of Fire Fighters and AFL-CIO
representatives. The group was armed with over 100 studies proving the
hazards of asbestos, even in low doses, and documentation showing that
any exposure could cause disease. Other organizations also reached out
attempting to stop the decision, such as the American Chemistry Council,
but Beck didn’t back down and the decision remained unchanged.Reinstein said of the situation:
If you don’t evaluate the dangerous legacy of
asbestos you don’t know how much contamination still exists in the
United States. We know it’s in our homes, schools, workplace and
environment but the average American can’t identify and evaluate the
risk. We have taken risk evaluation off the table.A recent report released by Senator Ed Markey from Massachusetts revealed
that the government doesn’t have a record of how many schools contain
asbestos. Congressman Frank Pallone Jr., a ranking member of the Energy
and Commerce Committee, also spoke out against the decision, saying,
“EPA’s refusal to address longstanding concerns around the use and
disposal of asbestos is further proof that Administrator Pruitt will
bend over backwards to help industry, but won’t lift a finger to protect
public health.”ಠ_ಠ
GODDAMMIT
“Let’s Give Americans Lung Cancer Again”
jesus fucking christ
“We need MORE ASBESTOS!
MORE ASBESTOS!
MORE ASBESTOS!”
– Donald Trump, bravely championing the cause of giving people terminal illness with shitty construction materials that have been scientifically proven to be unsafe
The fact that the EPA are ignoring literal decades of findings that show asbestos IS NOT SAFE TO USE just because the president doesn’t believe in facts is another example of how truly fucked America is right now
Seems completely out of left field until I read that Russia produces over 50% of the world’s supply of asbestos
… what?
In 2015, 2 million tonnes
[source:
of asbestos were mined worldwide. The Russian Federation was the
largest producer with about 55% world share followed by China (20%),
Brazil (15.6%), and Kazakhstan (10.8%).
“Asbestos” (PDF). U.S. Geological Survey Mineral Resources Program. January 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2016.]… sonuva…
The EPA Will No Longer Evaluate the Health Risks of Asbestos Because Trump Believes it’s 100-Percent Safe
Published
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