It is no secret that exposure to asbestos is the cause of many types of serious, debilitating, and sometimes chronic health concerns. Exposure to asbestos has been responsible for a host of health concerns: asbestosis, lung cancer, asbestos warts, pleural plaques, pleural thickening and mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is a rare, serious, and often terminal form of cancer, directly linked to inhalation of asbestos fibers. Often times, individuals developing these ailments have been involved in some industry that handles asbestos. Industries involved in the manufacture and production of building materials, especially insulation, roofing tiles, Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditiong (HVAC), and flame-retardant materials have all potentially exposed workers at some point to asbestos. Since asbestos offers superior flame-resistant qualities,many industries have used it over the years in their materials.

As industry and health officials began to realize the link between asbestos exposure and health concerns, manufacture and production industries made efforts to remove it from their products. It is standard practice in this day and age to assume that none of our construction materials contain asbestos, with very few exceptions. Indeed, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) have all instituted strict regulations on the limits to which an employee can be exposed to this material as well as limits to the amount of asbestos a given product can contain. Not only does this keep the number of asbestos-related diseases to a minimum, it also protects the manufacturing and production companies from costly mesothelioma lawsuits that could cost them millions of dollars per settlement.

Recently, the American Public Health Association (APHA) adopted a resolution asking Congress to consider legislation prohibiting the manufacture, sale, import, or export of asbestos-containing products, including products in which asbestos could be or is known to be a contaminant. In a statement, the Chair of APHA’s Occupational Health and Safety section, Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH, said, “With this new policy, APHA is joining the World Federation of Public Health Associations and other international organizations calling for a global ban on asbestos mining, and manufacturing, and the dangerous practice of exporting asbestos containing products.” The APHA hopes to completely eliminate all threat of industrial and commercial asbestos exposure and subsequently reduce the number of deaths from asbestos-related illnesses. Some estimations put the annual American death toll from asbestos at more than 10,000.

This is not the first time legislation has been brought to the table in an attempt to remove asbestos from manufacture and production entirely. In 1989, the EPA issued the Asbestos Ban and Phase Out Rule, banning most asbestos-containing products. However, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans overturned this regulation in 1991. The new regulation now bans specific products from containing asbestos, though there are many products still allowed to contain trace amounts of asbestos and asbestos-contaminated materials.