U.S. Asbestos Imports Surge in August, Report Finds

The amount of raw chrysotile asbestos imported into the United States increased significantly between July and August, according to a recent analysis from the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization and the Environmental Working Group. The U.S. International Trade Commission and Department of Commerce provided the two advocacy organizations the data for their report. According to the investigation, the U.S. imported 272 metric tons (approximately 600,000 pounds) of asbestos in August — an increase of nearly 2,000 percent from the 13 metric tons in July. EWG and ADAO on Tuesday attributed the alarming spike to the government’s recent actions regarding the import and use of asbestos, a toxic mineral linked to deadly diseases such as lung cancer and mesothelioma. Each year, asbestos exposure kills an estimated 40,000 Americans and more than 255,000 people worldwide, according to a recent study from the International Commission on Occupational Health. “It is appalling that unlike more than 60 nations around the world, the U.S. not only fails to ban asbestos but allows imports to increase,” ADAO co-founder and President Linda Reinstein wrote in a press release about the findings. EPA’s SNUR Asbestos Proposal in Final Stage The Environmental Protection Agency in July proposed its Significant New Use Rule (SNUR), which allows companies to manufacture, import and process more than a dozen asbestos-containing products no longer in use in the U.S. as long as the agency app...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Source Type: news