They Banned Asbestos . . . Didn’t They?

For anyone who believes the dangers from asbestos are over, think again.

Not only has asbestos not been outlawed in the United States, it doesn’t even have labeling requirements. That means you can still purchase products at the store that contain asbestos—and there doesn’t even have to be a warning label to tell you so.

There are about 3,000 products currently on the market in the United States that still contain asbestos. These products include home improvement products for do-it-yourselfers and small contractors, such as insulation, cement pipes, asphalt and vinyl floor tiles and sheet flooring, and decorative plaster and textured paints, among many others.

In 2003, the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a consumer warning, #5080. It details the types of products that still contain asbestos and is available on the CPSC web site.

The list also includes products used more often by professional at the workplace, such as brake pads and clutch linings, HVAC insulation, boiler gaskets and cement, and some gloves and protective clothing worn by laboratory technicians when working with hot processes. It includes elevator brake shoes, roofing shingles and felt, fireproofing materials, and duct connectors for hot air furnaces.

The Occupational Health and Safety Administration, a branch of the United States government, says that about 1.3 million workers are still in danger from asbestos today. Hazardous trades include construction, home improvement, and car and aircraft brake mechanics.

Why are they still allowed to sell that stuff?
In 1979, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), another branch of the federal government, began working toward banning most asbestos-containing products within the United States. After ten years of researching the situation, in 1989 the EPA decided that asbestos was “one of the most hazardous substances to which humans are exposed in both occupational and non-occupational settings” and announced that almost 95% of such products had to leave the United States market.

The asbestos industry, which includes Canadian interests as well as companies from the United States, filed a lawsuit challenging the EPA’s ban on some legal points. Two years later, in 1991, the ban was overturned by the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The court agreed that asbestos caused cancer and was highly dangerous. But they decided the EPA hadn’t done their cost-benefit analysis properly, and sent them back to the drawing board.

Rather than appeal the decision, the EPA abandoned the effort. Asbestos remains legal and saleable within the United States.

Wheels within wheels
There are 750,000 brake mechanics currently at work in this country. Most of the major auto manufacturing companies have quit using asbestos in their newer model cars; General Motors admits it still does and Chrysler refused to answer the question.

As for after-market replacement parts, there are no laws to ensure the proper labeling of asbestos-containing brake shoes and clutch pads. So there is no way short of mass testing to know what percentage of replacement parts currently on the market, on automotive parts store shelves, or in repair bays, are deadly to their handlers.

And the mechanics themselves don’t appear to be aware of their danger. Like everyone else, they seem to believe that the EPA’s ban took effect and that they aren’t allowed to put asbestos in brake shoes any longer. How often do you see a mechanic wearing a respirator while changing out a set of brakes?

Considering the amount of asbestos that could be released within a storage bay, and based upon a full career of working in a garage, as many as one in ten mechanics at work today could develop cancer due to asbestos exposure.

The epidemic begins anew.