Posted on March 21, 2018
Recently, ADAO had the pleasure to interview the Environmental Working Group (EWG), the 2018 Tribute of Unity Honoree for the 14th Annual International Asbestos Awareness Conference. The EWG has been dedicated to empowering people to live healthier lives in a healthier environment and has been an ADAO advocate for years now. EWG’s brilliant projects and efforts have been an incredible champion for the environment and we were excited to sit down and chat with them! 
Linda: How do you feel about Environmental Working Group (EWG) being the 2018 Tribute of Unity honoree?
EWG: EWG could not be more thrilled and humbled by this incredible honor. We have had the privilege of working alongside ADAO for more than a decade and have been inspired at every turn by ADAO’s steadfast commitment to giving voice and comfort to thousands of victims of asbestos disease and their families.
Linda: What was the inspiration or motivation behind your brilliant research that led to your 2004 “ASBESTOS: THINK AGAIN” report?
EWG: That investigation has its origins in literally dozens of EWG projects on toxic substance exposure, control and regulation, which has been the central topic of our organization since its founding 25 years ago. EWG’s focus on asbestos originated in the late 1990s in an examination of data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration on the major environmental exposure risks affecting American workers. Asbestos exposure and risk topped the list that emerged from that research.
With regards to EWG’s work around asbestos, nothing was more disconcerting than the failed EPA effort to ban the substance in the late 1980s. Of the dozens of case histories of industrial pollution that EWG has developed through its Chemical Industry Archives, none shocked or angered us more than the story of cold, calculating indifference to human life that emerges from the memos, correspondence and studies of the asbestos industries and their insurance companies.
Linda: What has been the biggest accomplishment of EWG so far?
EWG: From EWG’s very first report shining a light on the risks pesticides posed to babies up to our recent national drinking water database, we have worked to thrust the issues of environmental health and the importance of avoiding exposure to toxic chemicals into the mainstream, with millions of Americans empowering themselves with EWG’s advice to protect themselves and their families.
Linda:What or who inspires the Environmental Working Group EWG team to do the work they do?
EWG: Of course, ADAO and Linda Reinstein have long been heroes of EWG, but there are other organizations and individuals who have and continue to inspire EWG. Among them are noted pediatrician and epidemiologist Dr. Phil Landrigan with the Mount Sinai School of Medicine; environmental justice leader and EWG board member David Baker, who is the founder and executive director of Community Against Pollution in Anniston, Ala.; Dr. Pete Myers, founder of Environmental Health Sciences; the late Theo Colburn, founder of the Endocrine Disruptor Exchange and Dr. Linda Birnbaum, Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
Linda: What is your message for the public health and environmental community?
EWG: Keep it up! The connection between environmental pollution and public health has grown strong over the last two decades as a result of organizations like ADAO and many others. Millions of Americans are now actively involved, whether that be as consumers pushing companies to make safer products, or as citizen advocates lobbying lawmakers in Washington to implement policies to protect people from toxic chemicals like asbestos.
It is imperative that all organizations and individuals passionate about reducing people’s exposure to environmental contamination continue to make their voices heard both in the marketplace and with their elected leaders in Washington.
Join me in congratulating an amazing organization that works tirelessly in the fight to ban asbestos.
Linda