The Environmental Protection Agency announced on March 18 that after many decades of effort, it will start banning the final known type of asbestos still used in the United States. 

Scientists have proven that asbestos exposure causes mesothelioma, lung cancer, ovarian cancer, and other diseases. More than 40,000 Americans die annually from illnesses related to this hazardous material. 

“It’s been more than 50 years since EPA first sought to ban some uses of asbestos and we’re closer than ever to finishing the job,” said Environmental Working Group senior Vice President Scott Faber in a statement. “For too long, polluters have been allowed to make, use, and release toxins like asbestos and PFAS without regard for our health.”

What U.S. Industries Still Use Asbestos?

More than 50 nations have already prohibited the use of asbestos. In the United States, its use has been decreasing for decades. 

However, raw chrysotile asbestos was imported into the U.S. in 2022 to produce diaphragms for making sodium hydroxide and chlorine. These two chemicals are commonly used to disinfect wastewater and drinking water. 

This week’s EPA action immediately bans the import of asbestos for use in the chlorine industry.

The eight chlorine plants in Texas, Alabama, Louisiana, and Kansas that still use diaphragms containing this material must transition to non-asbestos alternatives. The EPA will allow those facilities time to do this so water purification can continue uninterrupted. 

Six of the facilities must complete the switch within five years. The EPA is giving a seventh plant eight years to transition, and the agency says the eighth must stop using asbestos diaphragms within 12 years.

A ninth chlorine plant was still operating in Niagara Falls, New York, until November 2021. After the facility closed, former employees, no longer fearing losing their jobs, came forward with stories of breathing in tiny asbestos fibers and being unable to keep the toxic material off their clothes or mustaches. 

Surviving employees of the Niagra Falls plant also recalled losing beloved co-workers to mesothelioma. 

Besides the chlorine sector, a few other U.S. industries still use asbestos. Therefore, the EPA rule also:

• Bans the use of most asbestos-containing sheet gaskets within two years. Companies using sheet baskets to process nuclear material or make titanium dioxide will be granted a five-year phase-out.
• Permits the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site to use sheet gaskets containing asbestos for nuclear material disposal through 2037.
• Prohibits companies from using asbestos in other gaskets and asbestos vehicle friction products within six months.

The History of Efforts To Ban Asbestos In the U.S.

The EPA attempted to ban asbestos completely in the 1980s. However, due to pressure from the chlorine industry, the agency’s 1989 prohibition provided an exception for those companies. Then, in 1991, federal judges overturned the remaining asbestos restrictions in the ban.

Many industries stopped using asbestos voluntarily, but the chlorine sector and a few others continued. 

In 2016, the 30th anniversary of the Toxic Substances Control Act, Congress approved amendments that included a provision to allow the EPA to ban asbestos. However, when Donald Trump became president the following year, his administration prevented it.  

In April 2022, with the support of the Biden administration, the EPA proposed banning asbestos. Once again, the chlorine industry fought the prohibition tooth and nail, delaying the final ruling. 

Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., said in a statement that this week’s EPA action against asbestos is long overdue. 

“However, it cannot be the end of the road when it comes to phasing out other dangerous asbestos fibers, and Congress has a role to play here when it comes to providing stronger protections for our health,” he said.