EPA bans remaining type of asbestos used in nation

Public health concerns cited in battle against carcinogen

WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency announced a comprehensive ban Monday on asbestos, a carcinogen that kills tens of thousands of Americans every year but is still used in some chlorine bleach, brake pads and other products.

The final rule marks a major expansion of EPA regulation under a landmark 2016 law that overhauled regulations governing tens of thousands of toxic chemicals in everyday products, from household cleaners to clothing to furniture.

The new rule would ban chrysotile asbestos, the only ongoing use of asbestos in the United States. The substance is found in such products as brake linings and gaskets, and is used to manufacture chlorine bleach and sodium hydroxide, also known as caustic soda, including some that is used for water purification.

EPA Administrator Michael Regan called the final rule a major step to protect public health.

“With today’s ban, EPA is finally slamming the door on a chemical so dangerous that it has been banned in over 50 countries,” Regan said. “This historic ban is more than 30 years in the making, and it’s thanks to amendments that Congress made in 2016 to fix the Toxic Substances Control Act,” the main U.S. law on the use of chemicals.

Exposure to asbestos is known to cause lung cancer, mesothelioma and other cancers, and it is linked to more than 40,000 deaths in the U.S. each year. Ending the ongoing uses of asbestos advances the goals of President Joe Biden’s Cancer Moonshot, a whole-of-government initiative to end cancer in the U.S., Regan said.

The 2016 law authorized new rules for tens of thousands of toxic chemicals found in everyday products, including substances such as asbestos and trichloroethylene that for decades have been known to cause cancer yet were largely unregulated under federal law. Known as the Frank Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act, the law was intended to clear up a hodgepodge of state rules governing chemicals and update the Toxic Substances Control Act, a 1976 law that had remained unchanged for 40 years.

The EPA banned asbestos in 1989, but the rule was largely overturned by a 1991 Court of Appeals decision that weakened the EPA’s authority under TSCA to address risks to health from asbestos or other existing chemicals. The 2016 law required the EPA to evaluate chemicals and put in protections against unreasonable risks.

Asbestos, which was once common in home insulation and other products, is banned in more than 50 countries, and its use in the U.S. has been declining for decades.

Most consumer products that historically contained chrysotile asbestos, which is imported primarily from Brazil and Russia, have been discontinued.

There are only eight chlor-alkali plants in the U.S. that still use asbestos diaphragms to produce chlorine and sodium hydroxide.

Separately, the EPA is evaluating legacy uses of asbestos in older buildings, including schools and industrial sites, to determine possible public health risks. A risk evaluation is expected by year’s end.