Poll of the Day > EPA is now allowing asbestos back into manufacturing

(+) Yeah! (+)

One of the most dangerous construction-related carcinogens is now legally allowed back into U.S. manufacturing under a new rule by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). On June 1, the EPA authorized a SNUR (Significant New Use Rule) which allows new products containing asbestos to be created on a case-by-case basis.

According to environmental advocates, this new rule gives chemical companies the upper hand in creating new uses for such harmful products in the United States. In May, the EPA released a report detailing its new framework for evaluating the risk of its top prioritized substances. The report states that the agency will no longer consider the effect or presence of substances in the air, ground, or water in its risk assessments.

This news comes after the EPA reviewed its first batch of 10 chemicals under the 2016 amendment to the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), which required the agency to continually reevaluate hundreds of potentially toxic chemicals to see whether they should face new restrictions or be removed from the market. The SNUR greenlights companies to use toxic chemicals like asbestos without thinking about how it will endanger people who are indirectly in contact with it.

Asbestos, once seen as a magical mineral, was widely used in building insulation up until it was banned in most countries in the 1970s. The U.S. is one of the only developed nations in the world that has placed significant restrictions on the substance without banning it completely. New data revealed that asbestos-related deaths now total nearly 40,000 annually, with lung cancer and mesothelioma being the most common illnesses in association with the toxin. That number could rise if new asbestos-containing products make their way into brand new buildings.

Healthy Building Network (HBN), an environmental advocacy group, recently told Fast Company that the fibrous material poses a major health risk for everyone exposed to it, including those who mine it, those who handle it in industrial facilities, as well as people near or inside renovation and construction projects where its being used. HBNs Board President Bill Walsh said that the chlor-alkali industry is the only industry in the country that still uses asbestos, reportedly importing about 480 tons of the carcinogen each year from Russia and Brazil.

Walsh also pointed out that chlorine-based plastics are commonly found in building-product materials and that virtually all asbestos in the U.S. is used in the industrial process to make chlorine. This includes PVC and vinyl plastics, which is largely found in the creation of pipes, tiles, flooring, adhesives, paints, and roofing products.

Though the EPA is easing its regulations against using harmful toxins like asbestos, it will largely be the responsibility of local and state governments, as well as companies and informed consumers to counter these federal moves. Walsh says its up to sustainable building-product manufacturers and ultimately, architects to pressure the market.

Architects really set the pace of design, in terms of aesthetics and materials that we like, he said. If they start to incorporate health-based criteria into their palette, it could really have an influence on what the manufacturers produce.

https://archpaper.com/2018/08/epa-asbestos-manufacturing/
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That's horrible. <<
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asbestos > weed

RoboXgp89 posted...

asbestos > weed

What a strange thing to say

TheGreatNoodles posted...

That's horrible. <<

Thank Trump. He's gettin a cut.

RoboXgp89 posted...

asbestos > weed

Um
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Real question: Is asbestos more effective than contemporary products?
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Im going to assume hes being sarcastic and saying basically asbestos is okay but weed is illegal and the joke just went over my head

trump had nothing to do with this

this program started during Obamas administration
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asbestos#Production

In 2015, 2 million tonnes of asbestos was mined worldwide. Russia was the largest producer with about 55% of the world total, followed by China (20%), Brazil (15.6%), and Kazakhstan (10.8%).

Trumps EPA pick rolled it back under Trumps orders and a Russian asbestos company even put Trumps face on their product.

The report states that the agency will no longer consider the effect or presence of substances in the air, ground, or water in its risk assessments.
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Making America great again.
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Making Asbestos great again
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FrndNhbrHdCEman posted...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asbestos#Production

In 2015, 2 million tonnes of asbestos was mined worldwide. Russia was the largest producer with about 55% of the world total, followed by China (20%), Brazil (15.6%), and Kazakhstan (10.8%).

Trumps EPA pick rolled it back under Trumps orders and a Russian asbestos company even put Trumps face on their product.

The report states that the agency will no longer consider the effect or presence of substances in the air, ground, or water in its risk assessments.

which wouldn't have happened if the epa wasn't ordered to reevaluate things back in 2016.
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In my opinion, this proof that Russia has been meddling in US politics via corporate lobbying for years.

GET THE CORPORATIONS OUT OF GOVERNMENT!
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Asbestos may be allowed back into American manufacturing, but no logical company that doesnt want lawsuits on their hands will use it.

Gosh what a coincidence that the one major country still involved in the asbestos mining industry is Russia
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Mead posted...

Gosh what a coincidence that the one major country still involved in the asbestos mining industry is Russia

Canada was as well but Canada ships it off to India... And apparently shuttered the mines in 2011 so never mind
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Doctor Foxx posted...

Mead posted...

Gosh what a coincidence that the one major country still involved in the asbestos mining industry is Russia

Canada was as well but Canada ships it off to India... And apparently shuttered the mines in 2011 so never mind

I'm glad they stopped that. They weren't even putting warning labels on the stuff. There were pictures and videos of Indian workers unloading and handling asbestos with no protection whatsoever. While it's not entirely our responsibility to get them to wear PPE, the fact that Harper's government was so willing to say nothing about its risks was just disgusting.

Lokarin posted...

Real question: Is asbestos more effective than contemporary products?

For some things. These days, with all the regulations around it, it's probably not cost-effective anymore, but the reason it ended up in bloody everything was because it was an extremely versatile and useful substance, as well as being pretty cheap.
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adjl posted...

I'm glad they stopped that. They weren't even putting warning labels on the stuff. There were pictures and videos of Indian workers unloading and handling asbestos with no protection whatsoever. While it's not entirely our responsibility to get them to wear PPE, the fact that Harper's government was so willing to say nothing about its risks was just disgusting.

Oh I agree. It was disgusting that the Canadian government was willing to ship asbestos off to other countries for profit. I'm glad it ended.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykm3GI1oTnQ" data-time="
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95% of commercially used (in the US, at least) asbestos is white (chrysotile) asbestos. This is the powdery, soft asbestos. It is by far the "safest" type of asbestos because it is less likely to be inhaled. Here is a SEM (scanning electron microscope) image of white asbestos. https://goo.gl/X1CkSM While there are still health risks involved in working around white asbestos, it is not nearly as bad as blue (crocidolite) asbestos. The image below is blue asbestos. It was mainly used in Australia, and it's estimated that up to 20% of crocidolite miners will die of mesothelioma. Luckily, as far as heat-resistant properties go, it isn't nearly as good as white asbestos, so its use is not nearly as common.

Imagine swallowing a big handful of straight pins. Now instead shrink them down until they're microscopic. Now multiply the number you had by tens of thousands (if not millions, billions, etc. Difficult to truly get a reasonable scale here). That's what's happening to your lungs when you inhale asbestos fibers.

This is what you're dealing with. You inhale it, it goes through your airways causing microtears which lead to inflammation. That's not a huge deal until it happens on a large enough scale (such as asbestos exposure). To make things worse, it will stick into the linings of your airways, lungs, etc. It doesn't go away. Everywhere they stick in is going to be permanently inflamed. Chronic inflammation can damage your DNA and can lead to cancer. A lot more goes into it than that, but you can safely say chronic inflammation is bad news regardless of why it's happening.

Another way of thinking of it: asbestos is like a splinter that will never go away. Except now you have millions of them and they're all throughout your airways.

The more fibers you're exposed to, the greater the damage done. Even among workers who were chronically exposed, the effects often take decades to manifest. If you are feeling short of breath a year after a single exposure, there is likely something else behind that, although it doesn't hurt to go get checked out.
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FrndNhbrHdCEman posted...

95% of commercially used (in the US, at least) asbestos is white (chrysotile) asbestos. This is the powdery, soft asbestos. It is by far the "safest" type of asbestos because it is less likely to be inhaled. Here is a SEM (scanning electron microscope) image of white asbestos. While there are still health risks involved in working around white asbestos, it is not nearly as bad as blue (crocidolite) asbestos. The image below is blue asbestos. It was mainly used in Australia, and it's estimated that up to 20% of crocidolite miners will die of mesothelioma. Luckily, as far as heat-resistant properties go, it isn't nearly as good as white asbestos, so its use is not nearly as common.

Imagine swallowing a big handful of straight pins. Now instead shrink them down until they're microscopic. Now multiply the number you had by tens of thousands (if not millions, billions, etc. Difficult to truly get a reasonable scale here). That's what's happening to your lungs when you inhale asbestos fibers.

This is what you're dealing with. You inhale it, it goes through your airways causing microtears which lead to inflammation. That's not a huge deal until it happens on a large enough scale (such as asbestos exposure). To make things worse, it will stick into the linings of your airways, lungs, etc. It doesn't go away. Everywhere they stick in is going to be permanently inflamed. Chronic inflammation can damage your DNA and can lead to cancer. A lot more goes into it than that, but you can safely say chronic inflammation is bad news regardless of why it's happening.

Another way of thinking of it: asbestos is like a splinter that will never go away. Except now you have millions of them and they're all throughout your airways.

The more fibers you're exposed to, the greater the damage done. Even among workers who were chronically exposed, the effects often take decades to manifest. If you are feeling short of breath a year after a single exposure, there is likely something else behind that, although it doesn't hurt to go get checked out.

And still, most manufacturers who dont want future lawsuits wont use it.

FrndNhbrHdCEman posted...

Chronic inflammation can damage your DNA and can lead to cancer. A lot more goes into it than that, but you can safely say chronic inflammation is bad news regardless of why it's happening.

Just to be clear, the primary damage of asbestos is scarring lung tissue so it can't absorb oxygen.
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WastelandCowboy posted...

And still, most manufacturers who dont want future lawsuits wont use it.

Way more than should be usin it.
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