Toward an Asbestos Ban in the United States

Our plain-English summary of Toward an Asbestos Ban in the United States, by R.A. Lemen, P.J. Landrigan (International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2017).

The study

• Authors: R.A. Lemen, P.J. Landrigan
• Journal: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
• Published: 2017;14(11)
• Type of article: Historical article, Review
• Cited by: 20 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

Abstract

Many developed countries have banned the use of asbestos, but not the United States. There have, however, been multiple efforts in the US to establish strict exposure standards, to limit asbestos use, and to seek compensation through the courts for asbestos-injured workers' In consequence of these efforts, asbestos use has declined dramatically, despite the absence of a legally mandated ban. This manuscript presents a historical review of these efforts.

In plain English

This article is a historical review, not a new study, of United States efforts to set asbestos exposure standards, limit asbestos use and ban it. The authors traced this history from the first recorded US discovery of asbestos in Vermont up to 2017. Citing US Geological Survey figures, they reported that US consumption exceeded 700,000 tons a year in the 1960s and 1970s and fell to 14,600 tons by 2000. They also reported that in 2015 the US still imported 343 tons of chrysotile. The review described NIOSH's 1976 recommendation, the first time a US agency suggested a complete workplace ban. It covered OSHA's 1986 limit of 0.2 fibers per cubic centimeter, at which OSHA estimated about three cancer deaths per 1000 workers exposed for 45 years. It also covered the EPA's 1989 ban on most asbestos products, which a federal appeals court vacated in 1991, leaving only a handful of product types banned. The authors concluded that US ban efforts failed through OSHA's ineptness, industry lobbying power and the 1991 court decision.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Historical review of US asbestos regulation and ban efforts
• Who was studied: No study population; the review covers US asbestos use, regulation and litigation from the first recorded US discovery of asbestos (before 1823) to 2017
• Exposure: Asbestos in general, in US workplaces and products. The regulations reviewed covered all asbestos fiber types; current US imports are chrysotile.
• Main results:
  • Citing US Geological Survey data, the authors reported that US asbestos consumption was over 700,000 tons a year in the 1960s and 1970s.
  • US asbestos consumption fell to 14,600 tons by 2000.
  • In 2015 the US still imported 343 tons of chrysotile asbestos a year, 95% of it from Brazil.
  • NIOSH's 1976 revised recommended standard was described as the first time a US government agency suggested a complete ban on asbestos in the workplace.
  • For OSHA's 1986 limit of 0.2 fibers per cubic centimeter, OSHA estimated a cancer risk of about three cancer deaths per 1000 workers exposed for 45 years.
  • The EPA's 1989 rule banning most asbestos-containing products under the Toxic Substances Control Act was vacated, and major parts remanded, by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in 1991.
  • After the court decision, the products that stayed banned under that law were limited to a handful of types, including corrugated paper, rollboard, commercial paper, specialty paper and flooring felt.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that decades of US efforts to ban asbestos failed through a combination of OSHA's ineptness, industry's lobbying power and the Fifth Circuit Court's 1991 decision.

Related studies

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• Historical ambient airborne asbestos concentrations in the United States - an analysis of published and unpublished literature (1960s-2000s) — A. Abelmann, M.E. Glynn, et al. (2015)
• An analysis of workplace exposures to asbestos at three steel mills located in the United States (1972-1982) — D. Hollins, A. Burns, et al. (2019)
• A review of changes in composition of hot mix asphalt in the United States — D.J. Mundt, K.M. Marano, et al. (2009)
• Mesothelioma from asbestos exposures: Epidemiologic patterns and impact in the United States — R.A. Lemen (2016)
• Mortality experience of insulation workers in the United States and Canada, 1943--1976 — I.J. Selikoff, E.C. Hammond, et al. (1979)

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