EPA is now allowing asbestos back into manufacturing
Source: The Architect's Newspaper
One of the most dangerous construction-related carcinogens is now legally allowed back into U.S. manufacturing under a new rule by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). On June 1, the EPA authorized a “SNUR” (Significant New Use Rule) which allows new products containing asbestos to be created on a case-by-case basis.
According to environmental advocates, this new rule gives chemical companies the upper hand in creating new uses for such harmful products in the United States. In May, the EPA released a report detailing its new framework for evaluating the risk of its top prioritized substances. The report states that the agency will no longer consider the effect or presence of substances in the air, ground, or water in its risk assessments.
This news comes after the EPA reviewed its first batch of 10 chemicals under the 2016 amendment to the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), which required the agency to continually reevaluate hundreds of potentially toxic chemicals to see whether they should face new restrictions or be removed from the market. The SNUR greenlights companies to use toxic chemicals like asbestos without thinking about how it will endanger people who are indirectly in contact with it.
Asbestos, once seen as a magical mineral, was widely used in building insulation up until it was banned in most countries in the 1970s. The U.S. is one of the only developed nations in the world that has placed significant restrictions on the substance without banning it completely. New data revealed that asbestos-related deaths now total nearly 40,000 annually, with lung cancer and mesothelioma being the most common illnesses in association with the toxin. That number could rise if new asbestos-containing products make their way into brand new buildings.
Read more: https://archpaper.com/2018/08/epa-asbestos-manufacturing/
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Maybe we can get his face silk screened on urinals?
When I practiced law we had quite a number of asbestos-related cases. Most of the men (and they were all men) had been workers at the local Navy facility, knocking asbestos from inside ship boilers without respirators. They were really hard to win -- the asbestos companies had a lot of lawyers and almost unlimited funds to draw on, and plaintiff law firms in Charleston, SC, tended to be small in comparison. The companies almost always won at trial -- they had a huge stable of experts to draw on, and their tactic was to use the victim's body against them ("Did you smoke, Mr. Smith?" ) enough to confuse the jurors, or at least one, which is all it would take. We were able to settle nearly all our cases, but it would never be enough no matter the amount. Most of these guys had so much asbestos in their lungs that each breath was a struggle. It was a horrible way to live -- or die.
Fuck Comrade Trump.
The US and other countries have spent billions of dollars removing massive amounts of asbestos from residential, commercial and industrial facilities and that was based on sound science.
These people in this administration are 100% dedicated to advancing corporate profits and 100% laissez-faire with regards to workplace safety, the environment, health, human rights and equality. They could care less about inconveniences such as asbestosis or black lung disease.
Someone please put the time machine back into forward mode.......
In may ways, we're all slaves to the international oligarchs from almost every product and service we buy. Labor slaves were beaten with leather whips and we're beaten with the economic whip of debt.
Not to mention that almost all our politicians are indebted to them as well.......
How dare us try to put chains of regulation on our masters??.....
I only went to that school for three years, but two teachers I liked a lot (English and Math) died too young. 
just like tobacco and carbon tetrachloride (used in dry cleaning and electronics). Most people had some in their home in stove, electric heater and toaster insulation! I personally cut up 1" think solid sheets of it with a bandsaw in college in the 60s to build a solder pot.
The most common use in public and industrial buildings was pipe insulation and acoustic ceiling tiles. If your school had a steam boiler (I remember the radiators), the steam piping and the boiler likely had asbestos insulation. If workers had to repair a valve or pipe, they just ripped it off like they would fiberglass without concern for the dust.
During the 80s and 90s on my field service jobs, I watch asbestos being removed throughout industry, particularly in power plants, paper mills and refineries. It was something to see with all the protective gear they had to wear and I think the material removed was put in special hazardous material landfills.
Asbestos was also used in automotive brake linings up into the 90s, but no longer. So, the darn stuff was all around us and most of it we didn't know about and were not warned of the danger. Sort of like as kids they told us "smoking is not good for you" but we just wanted to be like Marlboro man.
.............
Good grief! What was supposed to be "progress" or efficiency turned out to be lethal. Right now they're digging a canyon right in front of that school. There are now four schools, this was the second one built - but the population has grown. There are a lot of pipes and such exposed and it's taking quite awhile. I don't remember them digging that area up before, it was always a parking lot. 
just get frustrated sometimes with how we humans stay in denial of obvious truths for the sake of a buck and modern conveniences. Guess I'm old-fashioned that way, LOL.
One thing that worries me now is this pattern of regulate/deregulate as we shift political cycles. Industry cannot deal with uncertainty and it is extremely inefficient to allow a material to be used for a while, and then ban it again. This is just outright dumb and will cost us in the long run.
And, there I go ranting again.......
It boggles the mind to try to comprehend what's actually happening in this country - the rolling back of safety standards and environmental protections. It took a lot of research, wake up calls and hard work to get us as far as we've gotten and there still is a long way to go. After all that, learning we're now moving backwards on so many fronts that it's hard to keep track - I can't understand why it's allowed to happen. These are scary times. 
tRump is a real 
Last edited Tue Aug 7, 2018, 11:46 AM - Edit history (1)
