Environmental, advocacy groups react to EPA's new asbestos regulation

For Linda Reinstein, asbestos is personal. Her husband, Alan Reinstein, died of mesothelioma, a cancer often caused by exposure to the mineral commonly used in insulations, fire retarders and other products.

News of a new rule set by the Environmental Protection Agency regarding asbestos was enough to bring her to tears.

Reinstein is president and co-founder of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization, a California-based national advocacy nonprofit that works to promote regulations on asbestos. The new EPA rule will ban ongoing use of a type of asbestos sometimes included in brake parts and used to produce water purification chemicals.

“I got congratulations messages from literally around the world,” said Reinstein, of Los Angeles. “I think they’re excited because there’s something positive done.”

Under the regulation released last week, the EPA has set compliance deadlines to transition away from uses of chrysotile asbestos.

According to the EPA, this type of asbestos is the only known form of the substance currently used in or imported to the United States. It is found in products including diaphragms, sheet gaskets, brake blocks and aftermarket car brakes and linings.

Most consumer products that historically contained chrysotile asbestos have been discontinued, according to the EPA, but some industries, like the chlor-alkali sector, use asbestos in creating sodium hydroxide and chlorine. Two-thirds of the chlorine produced in the U.S. is produced without using asbestos, the EPA said.

The import of asbestos for chlor- alkali use is immediately banned under the rule, and use of the material will be phased out on varying scales depending on the industry.

Impact of the rule

As an asbestos regulation advocate, Reinstein’s feelings on the new rule are mixed. The ADAO has worked for the past several years to push for more asbestos restrictions. While the rule is a big step toward reducing disease or contamination from asbestos, she said, there’s still more to be done.

While the EPA described chrysotile as the only form of asbestos known to be imported, processed or distributed for use in the U.S., Reinstein and the ADAO would like to see the rule address five other asbestos fiber types: crocidolite, amosite, anthophyllite, tremolite and actinolite.

“There’s a lot of unknowns with a rule that is based on six specific conditions of use. To imply that that is the only fiber that is used is wrong, because there is cross-contamination,” she said.

The organization also wants to see a shorter timeline for transitioning away from asbestos, and more focus on testing products for asbestos.

“It’s a great step, but it didn’t go far enough,” she said. “The job is not done — we have more to do.”

Asbestos expert Dr. Arthur Frank at Drexel University emphasized the regulation still has a long way to go. He looks ahead to the EPA’s planned “part 2” examination of legacy asbestos, meaning asbestos that is already in existing buildings, and other forms of asbestos.

“It’s not without some merit,” he said “I speak about it as a modest step forward. It does stop use of certain products, friction products for cars, but one of the things (is) that it only regulates chrysotile.”

Frank is concerned that if companies are forbidden from using chrysotile, they could move to using different kinds of asbestos and continue the problem. He also expressed frustration with the varied deadlines given to companies to switch away from asbestos products. According to the EPA release, some companies moving multiple facilities to non-asbestos technology get up to 12 years to convert a total of 3 facilities.

“Companies are very good at finding loopholes to regulations,” he said. “Nobody should think this is a comprehensive ban that is going to end the problem of asbestos.”

Local groups weigh in

In Pennsylvania, local environmental organizations welcomed the new rule as a good first step.

Michelle Naccarati-Chapkis, executive director of Women for a Healthy Environment, was glad to see this new regulation coming out of 2016 amendments to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).

Asbestos previously was banned in 1989, but a 1991 court decision weakened the ban and shrank the power of the EPA under TSCA. The 2016 amendments require the EPA to evaluate existing chemicals and put in risk-based safety standards for new chemicals.

“This is really important and an important step, but hopefully one of many under the new regulation,” Naccarati-Chapkis said. “I see it as certainly a positive step, and hopefully one of many more that will come out of the EPA over the coming months and years to come, as they have more flexibility and ability to take a stronger stance on chemicals that we know are harmful.”

She hopes that the EPA uses the 2016 amendments to TSCA to restrict or prohibit other harmful classes of chemicals, such as PFAS.

“Here, they looked at one particular form of asbestos, so to speak, and we know that certainly this will reduce health care costs and lead to better occupational health protection,” Naccarati-Chapkis said. “We often see that from a regulatory perspective, even though it will take several years to phase in over time, there will be a benefit certainly in the near future.”

The rule, she said, also brings asbestos back to the public eye for people who may encounter it in their work or life.

“It brings it back into conversation, for people who have concerns about asbestos and perhaps things they are doing in their home in terms of home renovations,” she said. “It gets back into the conversation that you should hire a trained asbestos professional.”

Patrick Campbell, executive director of the Group Against Smog and Pollution (GASP), called the rule “a big deal.”

“There have been multiple steps to get us here, but this is the most actionable. This is the one that will actually start to keep the material out of various products,” he said. “It will absolutely help to keep people safe. But there’s much more work to be done.

Campbell is looking ahead to the expected further review of other types of asbestos from the EPA.

“There will be more risk review being done by EPA of the different kinds. Exposure to asbestos is so dangerous, and it is more common than I think people realize,” he said. “It absolutely can feel like a glacial pace, particularly when we’re worried about people getting serious illnesses.”

Dangers of asbestos

Western Pennsylvania’s aging infrastructure and home stock, Campbell emphasized, are part of why the area should pay close attention to asbestos.

“Particularly if you have an older home, asbestos shows up in a lot of insulation materials,” he said.

“Back in the day, it was really good at insulation. That’s why you see it up in attics; that’s why you see it sometimes in older homes wrapped around pipes. If you go down to somebody’s basement and you see what almost looks like white duct tape wrapped around pipes, that usually is asbestos material used to insulate.”

Asbestos is no longer used in installation, but homeowners and professionals should be careful when doing any kind of DIY repairs in an older building.

“Homeowners need to be aware just to protect themselves,” Campbell said. “If they suspect asbestos, they need to get an asbestos inspection.”

Mike Chicka, field supervisor and hazmat emergency coordinator with Apollo-area waste management company McCutcheon Enterprises, is often tasked with asbestos inspections for the company’s clients. Many people inaccurately think the substance is already banned entirely, he said.

“Pennsylvania is an old state — we have a lot of asbestos throughout the power plants, substations and steel mills that are still operational,” Chicka said. “To eliminate the chrysotile asbestos and products is a good thing. Banning the products is just a proactive measure to protect human health. It preserves our environment and promotes a safer alternative.”

Dealing with the legacy asbestos that is still in homes or buildings in Pennsylvania will take a long time, Chicka said.

“It might take decades to be able to completely eliminate asbestos,” he said. “You’re not going to do it in every home unless you start renovating every home.”

Chicka believes there should be a more comprehensive all-out ban on asbestos, but described the new rule as a good step.

“The exposure of asbestos is linked with so many serious health conditions. It’s basicaly at that point protecting public health,” he said. “We are in the future — we can come up with better products than using asbestos.”

Firefighters are particularly at risk for asbestos exposure and must decontaminate their equipment when returning from house fires to avoid exposing themselves or family members.

“There’s a lot of old fire stations out there, and they were never equipped, they were never built with decontamination in mind,” said Greg Russell, government affairs representative for the International Association of Fire Fighters. “You end up decontaminating your equipment on the same floor where you park your vehicles, which is also the same floor where your turnout gear is hanging. … Adding a sterile decontamination room did not become common until after the year 2000.”

To Russell, the new regulation’s halting of chrysotile asbestos imports is a big deal. Less asbestos being brought into the country means less asbestos that could be exposed in a transportation accident or fire.

“Anytime we can eliminate the transport of it, we’re making progress. But in my opinion, it’s going to take a couple of generations before we start seeing the benefits of the rule,” he said.

“(For) firefighters, the No. 1 killer is occupational cancer. Firefighters suffer twice the rate of the general public of asbestos-related disease. Until we eliminate uses and then go back and do some safe remediation in buildings and remove it, we’re going to still continue to be exposed.”