December 17th, 2007
Senator Patty Murray is trying for the third time in six years to get
Congress to ban the use and import of asbestos in the United States.
According to the World Health Organization, more than 40 countries have
banned or are in the process of phasing out the use of asbestos. The United
States should be in that group.
Many Americans assume that asbestos is a problem of the past and would be shocked
to learn that more than 3,000 different asbestos-containing products are still being
imported and used in the United States today. These products continue to be used despite
the fact that asbestos exposure has been known for decades to cause mesothelioma as well
as lung cancer and various other diseases and despite the fact that asbestos kills an
estimated 10,000 people a year in the U.S. alone.
In North America, the only generally-accepted causes of
mesothelioma- a cancer that kills approximately 3,000 Americans each year- are asbestos as well
as thoracic or abdominal radiotherapy . Mesothelioma usually takes decades to develop,
and cannot be diagnosed until as long as 20 to 60 years after asbestos exposure.
Because of this latency period between exposure and diagnosis, the incidence of mesothelioma
has still not peaked, and it is believed that the number of cases of mesothelioma diagnosed
each year will continue to rise until sometime between 2010 and 2020. Mesothelioma is now being
diagnosed in younger people and more frequently in women: according to a recent report by the Asbestos
Disease Awareness Association (ADAO), the median age at diagnosis of mesothelioma patients who contact
the organization has dropped to 51, with women representing close to 50 percent of new cases. By contrast,
in 1986 the median age of mesothelioma patients was nearly 70, and approximately 80 percent of
mesothelioma patients were men.
Mesothelioma is not the only asbestos-related disease that has affected and killed American workers.
Asbestos exposure also causes asbestosis, progressive scarring of the lungs that causes shortness
of breath and, if severe, can suffocate its victims. Asbestos exposure has also been connected to a
variety of cancers, including lung cancer, laryngeal cancer, stomach cancer and colon cancer. Again,
these diseases will not manifest and cannot be discovered for many years—generally 20 years or more
after the asbestos exposure. It is estimated that during the next decade, 100,000 Americans will die
of asbestos-related diseases—averaging 30 a day.
It has been known for many decades that asbestos can cause dangerous diseases, including cancer.
Scientists determined by 1930 that asbestos exposure caused asbestosis. By the 1930s and 1940s,
there was evidence that asbestos exposure could also cause lung cancer, and by 1960, it was clear
that asbestos exposure caused mesothelioma. In 1918, the asbestos industry knew than some insurance
companies would refuse to insure asbestos workers because they "were at increased risk of dying."
None of this information is new, and still we import and use thousands of asbestos products every
year in this country when safer alternatives are available.
In June, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held hearings on Senator Patty Murray's
proposed bill to ban asbestos use, import or distribution in the United States. Senator Murray's office
reported that the U.S. currently imports over $100 million a year in asbestos-containing products, including
brake pads, cement pipe, and floor and roofing tiles. Senator Barbara Boxer, cosponsor of the bill, noted that
world production of asbestos actually increased in 2005. The last U.S. asbestos mine closed just five years
ago, and in 2005 the U.S. imported 2,530 metric tons of asbestos, along with 90,000 metric tons of products
that contain it.
Senator Murray has announced that she is close to working out an agreement on the proposed asbestos ban that
would completely phase out asbestos within two years (three years for the chlorine industry, where asbestos
is used in chlorine processing) and provide $50 million in federal money to research causes and treatment for
asbestos-related cancers such as mesothelioma. The bill would also require the federal government to embark
on a public education campaign about asbestos risks. It is important that Senator Murray's bill passes this
year and that the United States stop importing asbestos that we know will kill more Americans in future decades.
We have alternatives that will keep us safer, and it's time to rely on them.
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