Trump Administration Plans to Bring Back Asbestos: EPA Revisits Ban on Toxic Material

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the administration of American President Donald Trump intends to review the ban on chrysotile asbestos - the last form of asbestos, reversing the decision of former President Joe Biden's administration from 2024, which banned this substance due to proven carcinogenicity.

This is reported by Fast Company, relayed by UNN.

Details

According to recently published court documents, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is "reviewing" the ban on the last legal form of asbestos still in use in the U.S., effective 2024.

Since Trump took office as president, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been undertaking large-scale deregulation. Currently, the agency's leadership has expressed interest in repealing rules on "forever chemicals" or PFAS, "reversing a key finding that greenhouse gases are dangerous to public health," and "weakening enforcement of regulations on coal ash."

New court documents this week indicate that the EPA has focused on asbestos. 

Decision to Ban Asbestos

According to a press release published at the time the ban decision was made, 50 other countries have already banned chrysotile asbestos, which is most commonly used in the industrial production of chlorine and in automotive components.

This action marks an important milestone in chemical safety after more than three decades of inadequate protection and significant delays during the previous administration in implementing the 2016 amendments

It is known that exposure to asbestos causes lung cancer, mesothelioma, ovarian cancer, and laryngeal cancer, and it is linked to over 40,000 deaths in the U.S. annually

Now, in response to a petition from the Texas Chemical Council, chrysotile asbestos may once again become an allowed manufacturing material. According to new court documents, "EPA leadership has reviewed the asbestos rule and now intends to review it through rulemaking, which involves notice and comment."

It is noted that this process, including any changes to regulations, is expected to "take approximately 30 months."

Addendum

This is not the first time the Trump administration has attempted to bring back asbestos. In 2018, during Trump's first term, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) introduced a new Significant New Use Rule (SNUR) that allows the federal government to petition for and approve the production of new asbestos-containing products on a case-by-case basis.

Trump himself, in his 1997 book "The Art of the Comeback," wrote that he considered the asbestos ban a conspiracy "led by the mob, because it was often mob-connected companies that were involved in asbestos removal."

The Environmental Protection Agency did not respond to Fast Company's request for comment on the reasons for reviewing the decision. 

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