Posted on August 25, 2020
2020 Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO)
Alan Reinstein Ban Asbestos Now Act of 2019 (ARBAN) Position Paper (H.R. 1603 and S. 717)
Each year, an estimated 40,000 Americans die from preventable asbestos-caused diseases, yet asbestos imports, and use continues. H.R. 1603 was voted out of the Committee on Energy and Commerce (E&C) with a strong bipartisan margin of 47-1 on November 19, 2019.
ARBAN would accomplish six critical public health objectives:
- It would ban the importation and use of asbestos, and asbestos-containing products in the U.S. within one year of enactment.
- Chlor-alkali plants using asbestos diaphragms would be required to eliminate the use of asbestos and convert to non-asbestos technology following a 10-year transition period.
- The bill would establish a new Right-to-Know program to require current importers, processors and distributors to report and disclose to the public how much asbestos is in U.S. commerce, where and how it is used, and who is exposed.
- The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) would conduct a comprehensive study of risks presented by “legacy” asbestos used in building construction decades ago but still present in millions of residences, businesses, factories, public buildings, and schools.
- The presence of asbestos contaminants in consumer products and construction materials would be stringently controlled.
- The hazardous Libby Amphibole form of asbestos, found in attic insulation in millions of homes across the U.S., would be covered by the ban.