Congress Fails to Vote on Asbestos Ban Legislation

The U.S. House of Representatives last week failed to advance once-promising legislation that effectively would have banned asbestos, frustrating advocates once again. H.R. 1603, titled the Alan Reinstein Ban Asbestos Now Act of 2020, had been expected to pass easily under a Congressional procedure reserved for broadly supported, non-controversial legislation. The bipartisan House Committee on Energy and Commerce had voted earlier, 47-1, to move it forward, fueling considerable optimism leading into the latest Congressional session. If passed, the bill would have then moved to the U.S. Senate, which also had shown bipartisan support for this effort. Instead, the bill sunk like an anchor last week. It was pulled from the agenda and never came up for a vote. Asbestos is a toxic mineral that causes cancer, including malignant mesothelioma. It has been banned in more than 60 countries. Previous attempts to ban it in the U.S. have failed throughout the last two decades. None, though, had looked as promising as this latest attempt. “This is devastating, just awful,” Linda Reinstein, co-founder of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization, told The Mesothelioma Center at Asbestos.com. “It was gut-wrenching to see what happened. I feel bad for so many people who have worked so hard for this, for asbestos victims past, present and future.” Last-Minute Change Stalls Asbestos Ban Progress The legislation is named for Reinstein’s husband, who died more than a decade ago from ...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Source Type: news