The Environmental Protection Agency announced Monday that it is banning the most common form of asbestos, a cancer-causing substance that’s linked to the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans every year.
Arthur Frank, a professor of environmental and occupational health at Drexel University, said the rule doesn’t outlaw all forms of asbestos, and the substance still lurks in many existing buildings and products across the country.
Federal regulators said Monday that the ban was the first rule to be finalized under the updated Toxic Substances Control Act, the national chemical safety law that was overhauled in 2016.
Then, two years later, a panel of federal judges deemed the rule too onerous and overturned it, scuttling for decades any additional attempts by the EPA to ban asbestos and other dangerous chemicals.
The chlor-alkali industry uses large filters containing asbestos called diaphragms to make chemicals such as sodium hydroxide and chlorine, which can be used to disinfect drinking water and wastewater.
Sheet gaskets containing asbestos will also be outlawed two years after the effective date of the rule, though there will be exceptions when it’s used to make titanium dioxide or for the disposal of nuclear material.
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The Environmental Protection Agency announced Monday that it is banning the most common form of asbestos, a cancer-causing substance that’s linked to the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans every year.
Arthur Frank, a professor of environmental and occupational health at Drexel University, said the rule doesn’t outlaw all forms of asbestos, and the substance still lurks in many existing buildings and products across the country.
Federal regulators said Monday that the ban was the first rule to be finalized under the updated Toxic Substances Control Act, the national chemical safety law that was overhauled in 2016.
Then, two years later, a panel of federal judges deemed the rule too onerous and overturned it, scuttling for decades any additional attempts by the EPA to ban asbestos and other dangerous chemicals.
The chlor-alkali industry uses large filters containing asbestos called diaphragms to make chemicals such as sodium hydroxide and chlorine, which can be used to disinfect drinking water and wastewater.
Sheet gaskets containing asbestos will also be outlawed two years after the effective date of the rule, though there will be exceptions when it’s used to make titanium dioxide or for the disposal of nuclear material.
The original article contains 673 words, the summary contains 196 words. Saved 71%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!