EPA warning on asbestos is under attack

BY ANDREW SCHNEIDER
©2003, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

The federal government's 17-year effort to warn backyard and professional mechanics of the dangers of cancer-causing asbestos in brakes is under attack.

-snip-

Court filings and public health surveys indicate that thousands of auto workers are diagnosed each year with asbestos-related diseases, such as mesothelioma, lung cancer and asbestosis. Few mechanics take protective measures when working with brakes - mainly, they say, because they believe asbestos is no longer present.

They are wrong. Although the major car makers say they no longer use asbestos, the brakes on many older cars contain the fibers. More than $124 million worth of asbestos brake material was imported into the United States last year. Thus, the potential danger will exist for decades as replacement brakes containing asbestos continue to be put on vehicles.

-snip-

Dr. Sidney Shapiro, a law professor at the University of Kansas who has written and lectured on the value and danger of the information act, said he is concerned that "the legislation opens the door for corporations and trade associations to attack any scientific information that EPA makes public, and asbestos is a fine example." Shapiro is with the Center for Progressive Regulation, a group that examines regulations on environmental and consumer interests.

http://tinyurl.com/sgva

This story is dated yesterday but was published in the Sunday St.Louis
Post-Dispatch and is important journalism, so I hope it doesn't violate the 12-hour rule.

The outrages continue to fly at us from all directions with these repuke bastards. The KU professor quoted is referring to the "Data Quality Act" from 2001. More anti-science, smoke-filled room corporate crap.

The Post-Dispatch talked to about two dozen St. Louis mechanics or garage managers. All but two said that asbestos had been banned and is no longer in brakes.

<snip>

He was surprised to learn that some brakes still contained asbestos. "I thought it was outlawed years ago," said the mechanic.

Asbestos was banned in products sold in the USA some time ago, but the ban was overturned. Actually, only a part of the legislation banning asbestos was overturned, but according to many of the EPA/OSHA enforcement administration people, overturning part of the ban invalidated the whole bill. Apparently, the ban got more notice than the overturn, or the general lack of enforcement.

According to Phil King of the US EPA, whether or not they were right, no one has been enforcing the ban, and many of the products you buy off the shelf may have significant asbestos content. I bought some roofing cement from Home Depot a few days ago that says: "Made from heavy-bodied asphalt reinforced with chrysotile mineral fibers." Most people don't know that chrysotile is the most common form of asbestos in consumer products.


Check out my collection of Asbestos links:
http://home.columbus.rr.com/lfairban/Pages/Asbestos%20Thin.htm

Mind if I ask if your interest is personal or professional?
I've bookmarked it myself.

thanks
s_m

I was the Asbestos Program Coordinator for the Ohio EPA, up until a few years ago, when I retired. Since then I have maintained an interest, especially when I found out about Halliburton and Cheney and his role in the comprehensive liability act. It should be called the abdication of responsibility act.

There are some more asbestos links in "New Links" (see tag) that I have not included in the Asbestos page yet.

incurred alot of legal probs due to asbestos claims. Cheney has fought hard to stop legislation protecting workers that Wellstone and WA Sen. Patty Murray were trying to pass.

Google: Cheney+Wellstone+asbestos

Also: EPA+asbestos

http://www.democraticunderground.com/cgi-bin/duforum/duboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=5471&forum=DCForumID43&archive=yes

I believe the Wellstone/Murray concerns were related to vermiculite, a material that sometimes contains significant amounts of asbestos, and is used in gardening, and insulation sold under the name Zonolite.

http://murray.senate.gov/asbestos/

I've kept up with alot on this subject. The more I read the more I see that Wellstone was more than just a political opponenent of the BFEE, he may have threatened their very existence over this asbestos thing.

The White House has gone to great lengths, at considerable political risk, to stop safety legislation, EPA reports, etc. The link to Halliburton and Dresser shows, IMO, how potentially vulnerable Bush is here.

other contractors decide the 'quality of the data'...and in some cases, to hire contractors to create the 'data' itself...

then add 'risk assessment', also called 'total junk science spin by guilty corporations', and a little public relations spin...and there you have it...nobody at all could possibly object to anything....ooops...don't forget to block all 'freedom of information' requests...now you got it....

Huge issue here. They don't want to say what water projects they want the money for. I think they know, they just want to end around public protest, and are betting on the Bush administration back tracking on previous EPA rulings against certain water projects, like the Twin Forks, that were nixed under Bush I.

Jeesh, how cynical can I get? The girl child would tell you not to go there. It's a bad place.