It’s a swamp thing: Toxic Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency moves to allow asbestos back into manufacturing

Health, News / August 7, 2018

Toxic Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency moves to allow asbestos back into manufacturing

Make no mistake about it, hardworking people will die as a result of this decision.

If you want to put cancer-causing asbestos back into some manufacturing, Donald Trump is your man. The Environmental Protection Agency, which is doing less people and environment protecting every day under the Trump administration, is considering bringing back some asbestos manufacturing. From The Architects Newspaper:

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). 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.

According to environmental advocates, this new rule gives chemical companies the upper hand in creating new uses for such harmful products in the United States. 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.

Emphasis added. Let’s repeat that: “… the agency will no longer consider the effect or presence of substances in the air, ground, or water in its risk assessments.” It’s a dead giveaway to the chemical swamp. A deadly giveaway that will end up costing the lives of the hardworking men and women exposed to the deadly toxin.

Asbestos, once seen as a magical mineral, 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 brand new buildings.

This is a deadly mistake and it should be stopped before it goes one step further.

Top Comments: 

karmic blue aardvark

August 07 · 11:31:14 AM

Russian mining firm puts Trump’s face on its asb …Russian mining firm puts Trump’s face on its asbestos products

“By allowing asbestos to remain legal, the Trump administration would be responsible for a flood of asbestos imports from Russia and other countries into the US, as well as the wave of illnesses and deaths that will continue for years to come,” said Linda Reinstein, co-founder and president of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization.

From www.asbestos.com:

Russia, which is the largest country in the world in terms of land mass, also leads the planet in asbestos production. In 2000, production reached approximately 700,000 metric tons, much more than Canada and China. In 2008, mining in Russia produced more than 1 million metric tons of asbestos. In 2013, the country produced 1,050,000 metric tons.

Russia’s high production numbers stem from the city Asbest, located about 900 miles northeast of Moscow. Once known as “the dying city” because of its high rates of mesothelioma and related diseases, Asbest is home to a mine that measures seven miles long, one-and-a-half-miles wide and more than 1,000 feet deep. The company operating the mine is Uralasbest, the world’s largest producer of chrysotile asbestos.

About 500,000 metric tons of asbestos is gathered from the mine each year — roughly 20 percent of the world’s supply.

Uralasbest and Orenburg Minerals, the two largest asbestos producers in Russia, maintain that controlled use of chrysotile asbestos is not harmful to human health.

Unlike Canada, Russia has remained a large user of asbestos. It is the world’s second-largest consumer, trailing only China. Russia has widely used the mineral in roofing materials, automobile brakes and insulation. About 3,000 asbestos-containing products have been labeled as safe by the Chief Sanitary Officer of Russia.