EPA Finalizes Asbestos Risk Evaluation Goals with Part 2 Assessment

Utilizing recent public feedback, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finalized its strategy and goals for the much-anticipated Risk Evaluation for Asbestos Part 2. Its final scope document, released June 29, clarified the EPA’s intentions, which will build on the previously released and much-maligned Part 1. A broader Part 2 will be published late in 2024. The risk evaluation stems from the EPA’s designation of asbestos as one of the first 10 chemicals to be reviewed under the 2016 amendment to the Toxic Substances Control Act. Although only one evaluation for asbestos was planned originally, the EPA added Part 2 after a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and public outcry, over its limited scope. Part 1 dealt exclusively with chrysotile, the only asbestos type currently being imported, distributed or processed within the country today. It led to the EPA proposal earlier this year that would ban the ongoing use of all chrysotile asbestos and require much stricter record keeping and data collection on the mineral. EPA Now Examining All Types of Asbestos According to the EPA’s latest announcement, Part 2 will also assess tremolite, amosite, actinolite, crocidolite, anthophyllite and Libby amphibole asbestos, types no longer being imported but still present from long-ago uses that continue to pose a threat to the public.  Libby amphibole asbestos is unique in that it often involves equally toxic vermiculite, a silicat...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tags: Asbestos Exposure Source Type: news