September 26 is Mesothelioma Awareness Day. The day is intended to share information about mesothelioma, an incurable cancer that forms on the linings of vital organs, typically the lungs, following asbestos exposure. While the prognosis for individuals diagnosed with the illness is grim, preventing it is very much possible.
Scientific studies of asbestos conclude there is no safe level of exposure. Accordingly, the clear solution to preventing mesothelioma is to ensure people are never exposed to asbestos in any amount. Safer alternatives to asbestos exist, so banning it is not beyond reach. Despite this, the U.S. is not among roughly 50 nations that have done so. Although asbestos is no longer manufactured in the United States, it persists in previously installed insulation and is still being imported every year.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, nearly 100 percent of the asbestos imported into the United States in 2017 came from Brazil and was used by the chloralkali industry. However, "an unknown quantity of asbestos was imported within manufactured products, including asbestos containing brake-linings, knitted fabric, rubber sheets for gasket manufacture, and potentially asbestos-cement pipe." In 2018, the U.S. also imported asbestos from Russia, with the biggest producer of asbestos in the world labeling its products with President Trump's face because he supported rolling back efforts in the U.S. to regulate the dangerous minerals. And asbestos has also turned up in recent years in household products, such as cosmetics and children's crayons.
Although asbestos exposure poses a health risk to the public generally and children attending older schools, the risk is highest for workers exposed on the job. Even workers who do not presently handle asbestos may be exposed if they have worked at a site where asbestos was once prevalent, such as a shipyard or power plant. Workers may also be exposed at worksites where asbestos is still present, such as in older homes under renovation or in the automobile industry. To see a list of asbestos job sites across the U.S., check out Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance's comprehensive database.
To help raise awareness about mesothelioma and call for an asbestos ban on September 26, visit the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) website to sign a petition urging EPA to impose a ban, and for additional events and activities.
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Katie Tracy | September 25, 2018
September 26 is Mesothelioma Awareness Day. The day is intended to share information about mesothelioma, an incurable cancer that forms on the linings of vital organs, typically the lungs, following asbestos exposure. While the prognosis for individuals diagnosed with the illness is grim, preventing it is very much possible.
Rebecca Bratspies, Sarah Lamdan, Victor Flatt | September 24, 2018
Sarah Lamdan, Professor of Law at CUNY Law School, co-authored this post, which is part of CPR's From Surviving to Thriving: Equity in Disaster Planning and Recovery report. This chapter is excerpted from a law review article that is forthcoming in U. Arkansas Law Review, titled "Taking a Page from FDA’s Prescription Medicine Information Rules: Reimagining Environmental […]
Robert Verchick, Sidney A. Shapiro | September 24, 2018
Originally published in The Regulatory Review as part of a series on social justice and the green economy. Reprinted with permission. A green economy will generate thousands of new jobs — many more than will be lost to regulations on carbon pollution. But a green economy may also increase wealth inequality in some parts of the […]
Joel A. Mintz | September 21, 2018
This post is part of CPR's From Surviving to Thriving: Equity in Disaster Planning and Recovery report. In August, 2017, Hurricanes Harvey and Irma brought widespread devastation to the southeastern United States, destroying buildings, flooding neighborhoods, and taking lives. Harvey shattered the national rainfall record for a single storm, dropping over 50 inches of rain in a […]
Laurie Ristino | September 20, 2018
Donald Trump has, in a sense, made good on his promise to "drain" Washington, D.C. – but not in the way many people probably thought he would. The exodus from our nation's capital has been made up of the scientists, diplomats, and policy experts that a democracy needs to function, not the high-powered, special interest […]
Joel A. Mintz, Victor Flatt | September 20, 2018
This post is part of CPR's From Surviving to Thriving: Equity in Disaster Planning and Recovery report. What Happened According to the Houston Chronicle, there were more than 100 releases of hazardous substances into land, air, and water during and after Hurricane Harvey. At least one dozen of the Superfund sites listed in or near Houston were […]
Victor Flatt | September 19, 2018
This post is part of CPR's From Surviving to Thriving: Equity in Disaster Planning and Recovery report. Click here to read previously posted chapters. On August 23, 2017, Texas Governor Greg Abbott declared a state of emergency as Hurricane Harvey approached the Texas Coast. That state of emergency was ultimately expanded to 60 counties in Texas. Emergency […]
Katie Tracy | September 18, 2018
This post is part of CPR's From Surviving to Thriving: Equity in Disaster Planning and Recovery report. Lachlan Brain, a 22-year-old electrical lineman from Tennessee, traveled to Houston following Hurricane Harvey to help with the relief effort, working for T&D Solutions, a company that specializes in maintaining and repairing power lines and related equipment. While working inside a bucket truck on August 25, 2017, Brain leaned across an electrical line, came into contact with a live wire, and was electrocuted. Line personnel and first responders attempted to revive him unsuccessfully, and Brain died.
Evan Isaacson | September 17, 2018
his post is part of CPR's From Surviving to Thriving: Equity in Disaster Planning and Recovery report. As millions of Americans in Houston and throughout Florida and Puerto Rico are acutely aware, the most dangerous aspect of a hurricane is the water. In Houston, the 50 inches of water that fell over the course of a few days broke records and overwhelmed the city’s flood control system. In Florida, Hurricane Irma’s storm surge ravaged coastal communities hundreds of miles up and down the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. And in Puerto Rico, Hurricane Maria dumped more than two feet of rain in some areas, generating floodwaters more than a dozen feet high in low-lying areas throughout the island.