Asbestos experience in the United States

The first place for the industrial production of asbestos in the United States (US) was New York, by Johns’ Company, 1858. The first person who fought to ban asbestos was Irving J Selikoff, M.D., who established a link between asbestos inhalation and carcinogenicity and was the founder of the Division of Environmental and Occupational Medicine, Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York. His work on asbestos led to establishing the first permissible exposure limit (PEL) under the Occupational Safety and Health Agency (12 fibers per cubic centimeter, or f/cc, per 8-hour period), followed by the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ban on spray-on asbestos insulation in 1973. In 1979, the EPA attempted to ban asbestos use entirely, using its authority under Section 6 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). In 1984, the EPA succumbed to industry pressure by shifting the asbestos issue to other agencies. However, based on scientific findings from a ten year study, the EPA announced the "asbestos ban and phase out rule" on all products containing asbestos in 1989. This regulation affected 94% of asbestos products, including brake linings, roofing, pipes and insulation. Industries immediately opposed this announcement and filed a lawsuit challenging the rule’s validity under TSCA. The EPA defended the ban, but a seminal decision from the Fifth Circuit Court found the EPA failed to present “substantial evidence” to justify the ban under TSCA. Consequently, certain asbestos products remain on the US market today. Recent US experience with asbestos was the tragedy in Libby, Montana.  Vermiculite asbestos began to be mined in Libby in 1920; the mine closed in 1990. Mining released vermiculite into the air and contaminated Libby with temolite-actinolite asbestiform mineral fibers. Over 400 residents died of asbestos-related disease in the past several decades in Libby.