OSHA Issues New Asbestos Fact Sheet

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued a new Asbestos Fact Sheet at the urging of Linda Reinstein, President, CEO and Co-Founder of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO).

On July 22, 2013 Linda met with Dr. David Michaels, Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA to discuss asbestos hazards and the need for additional resources to educate and to protect the public from asbestos-related diseases.

The resulting Fact Sheet summarizes the hazards involved when asbestos fibers are released into the air. It highlights where the hazards may occur, including cleanup after natural disasters, during the manufacturing of asbestos-containing products, during renovations, construction and shipyard work to name a few.

The fact sheet also defines OSHA Standards to protect workers from exposure to asbestos fibers in many types of work places. And what protections exist for these Standards, including permissible exposure limits, assessment of workplaces, monitoring exposure levels, hazard communication, training and medical requirements for each industry.

OSHA notes that this fact sheet is one in a series of informational fact sheets highlighting their programs, policies or standards. It does not impose any new compliance requirements.

We commend Linda for her tireless efforts to educate the public on the hazards of asbestos. Linda lost her husband Alan in 2006 to malignant pleural mesothelioma and fought back by becoming one of the most influential voices in the ban asbestos movement.

For more important information on asbestos from OSHA, please visit here.

Source: OSHA Listens and Takes Action: New Asbestos Fact Sheet

Asbestos Industry-Backed FACT Act Passed by House GOP’s—But Not Likely to Go Any Further

US News reports that on Wednesday, November 13, 2013 the House approved House Resolution 982, the Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency Act (FACT Act) in a vote 221-199. The FACT Act is part of a national campaign being led by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and National Chamber of Commerce to limit compensation paid to asbestos victims and delay justice.

There is good news though. According to the article, the Democratic-controlled Senate has no plans to take up the bill, and the White House on Tuesday said President Barack Obama would veto it. “The bill’s mandatory reporting and disclosure requirements would threaten asbestos victims’ privacy when they seek payment for injuries from an asbestos bankruptcy trust,” the White House said in a statement of administration policy opposing the bill.

On Tuesday, Linda Reinstein, Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) President/CEO and Co-Founder along with members of the Alliance for Justice, the American Association for Justice and the Asbestos Cancer Victims’ Rights Campaign, attended a House Staff briefing to oppose the bill and urge representatives to vote against the FACT Act.

This legislation is an invasion of privacy which seeks to require patients and their families to post personal financial information, information about their dependents and the last four digits of their Social Security numbers on a public website. The bill will not only limit justice received by victims, but will ultimately open them and their families up to potential identity theft.

It would also have claimants seek compensation through the asbestos trust system before going through their state court to seek damages against companies, some states already have this law in practice.

Supporters of the legislation claim that rampant fraud is occurring in the system, fraud for which they have no definitive proof. They say this fraud occurs when people file claims against one trust blaming it for their asbestos disease, then make the same claims to other trusts as well as to companies in court.

Mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases are not typically caused by a single exposure to asbestos. In almost all cases, the disease is caused by the cumulative effect of many, sometimes countless, exposures throughout a person’s lifetime. Accordingly, asbestos disease is almost always the result of exposures to a wide variety of asbestos products from a multitude of different manufacturers and suppliers. It has long since been established that these companies knew about the dangers of asbestos and kept it mum.

The asbestos company owners, such as the Koch brothers, who are behind the so-called FACT legislation, have distorted the facts in an effort to convince the public that persons claiming that their asbestos disease was caused by more than one manufacturer’s product are committing a fraud. In reality, it is the supporters of this legislation who are committing a fraud—a fraud which, not surprisingly, inures to the financial interests of asbestos companies at the expense of the financial and privacy interests of asbestos illness sufferers.

Here's what you can do to help right now:

Go to www.cancervictimsrights.org to connect with a community of people fighting this legislation and standing up for cancer victims.

Related links:

• Huffington Post Debunks Claims of Fraud by Supporters of the “Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency Act”
• Susan Vento, Wife of Deceased Congressman and Mesothelioma Victim Bruce Vento, Expresses Her Strong Opposition to the So-Called “FACT Act”
• Wall Street Journal Continues to Side with Asbestos Companies on Allegations of Asbestos Trust Fraud

The Chemical Safety Improvement Act of 2013 - Yet Another Obstacle to Banning Asbestos in the U.S

The Chemical Safety Improvement Act of 2013 (S. 1009) (CSIA) is a bill currently before congress. The legislation is designed to reform the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) of 1976. Many public health advocates who support TSCA reform do not support the CSIA as it is currently written, believing that the chemical industry is behind the draft legislation.

On July 31, 2013, Linda Reinstein, President of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization, and a long-time leader in the effort to ban asbestos in the U.S., testified before the Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee (EPWC) at a hearing in support of TSCA reform. According to Ms. Reinstein, the CSIA as currently drafted would do more harm to public health and the environment than good. As detailed in the ADAO position paper, the current version of the CSIA would make it virtually impossible for the EPA to phase out or ban harmful substances already on the market. This, of course, would create yet another obstacle to banning asbestos. As Ms. Reinstein explained in her testimony, even though the World Health Organization, International Labor Organization, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and our Surgeon General all agree that there is no safe level of exposure to asbestos, usage of asbestos in some industries in the U.S. has increased.

The CSIA, as currently drafted, places the burden on the EPA to find that a substance is unsafe, rather than requiring chemical companies to prove that substances are safe. The CSIA also lacks deadlines which would require the EPA to quickly to assess and restrict the use of harmful substances. The bill would retain the unworkable standard of review in the TSCA which ultimately prevented EPA from being able to ban asbestos in 1989. Lastly, and probably the most far-reaching, is the language in the bill that would undercut a state’s ability to enforce existing laws or pass new ones against harmful substances.

A Los Angeles Times editorial states that TSCA has been, for all intents and purposes, out of commission since the EPA lost a lawsuit more than 20 years ago involving asbestos regulation. Shortly after the EPA issued a ban on asbestos in 1989, under authority of the TSCA, trade associations that represented U.S. and Canadian asbestos companies filed suit and a federal appeals court overturned the ban in 1991, ruling that the EPA failed to muster substantial evidence to support its rule to ban the substance.

In the 37 years that TSCA has been in effect, only 200 of the 85,000 industrial chemicals in use, not including pesticides, have been tested or regulated. The LA times piece goes onto explain that, under the bill, once the EPA designates a chemical as “high priority” for regulation, the chemical would then be under federal jurisdiction, and any state laws governing it would cease to have any authority. The EPA could then leave the chemical untested and unregulated for years. A clear gift to the chemical industry.

The website Beyond Pesticides published a letter from nine state Attorneys General to the EPWC expressing their, “deep concerns about the unduly broad preemption language proposed in CSIA.” Legislation needs to respect the rights of the states to protect their residents when the federal government fails to do so.

Science, not industry influence, must drive policy, writes John Replogle in a commentary published in the digital journal Roll Call. The onus must be on chemical manufacturers to demonstrate that the chemicals they use are safe, and the federal government must have the regulatory tools and financial resources to make this so.

Supporters of the Chemical Safety Improvement Act would have us believe it will enhance public safety and promote innovation, economic growth, and job creation by American manufacturers. As the bill is currently written, individual states would lose the power to protect their citizens and local environments from dangerous chemicals and hazardous materials, such as asbestos. Meaningful legislation needs to be passed that strengthens the protections for the people of this country by improving existing safeguards, not stripping them away.

Along with her testimony, Ms. Reinstein hand-delivered a petition with over 2,500 signatures to ban asbestos use in the United States. You can sign the petition here.

Pacific Meso Center’s Meet the Expert Series Presents ADAO President and Co-Founder, Linda Reinstein

On Wednesday, July 17, 2013, Linda Reinstein, Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) President/CEO and Co-Founder, will be presenting Ban Asbestos Struggle: From our Homes to the Hill, at 11am PDT as part of Pacific Meso Center’s (PMC) “Meet the Expert” Series.

After Linda’s husband Alan was diagnosed with malignant pleural mesothelioma in 2003, she fought back by becoming one of the most influential voices in the ban asbestos movement. In 2004, Linda co-founded ADAO to raise awareness about the dangers of asbestos and unite patients and families who have been affected by asbestos-related disease. Today ADAO is the largest independent asbestos victims’ organization based in the United States, with over 20,000 individuals eager to live in a world without asbestos.

Linda has frequently served as a U.S. Congressional witness, having presented testimony before the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives as well as the U.S. Department of Labor (OSHA), U.S. Surgeon General, and the U.S. EPA. She has also presented keynote speeches to the British House of Commons, United Nations IX World Congress on Safety and Health at Work, TED Manhattan Beach, the International Mesothelioma Interest Group (iMig) and audiences throughout the world.

To attend the “Meet the Expert” Series, please join the meeting at:

·         https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/177054021

·         Use your microphone and speakers (VoIP) – a headset is recommended. 

·         Or, call in using your telephone, dial +1 (312) 878-3081

·         Access Code/Meeting ID: 177-054-021

·         Audio PIN: Shown after joining the meeting

The “Meet the Expert” Series is hosted by Savannah Cline, RN, BSN and Medical Liaison at The Pacific Meso Center. The series is part of Savannah’s efforts to serve as a resource for mesothelioma patients, as well as their families and friends, who are searching for reliable information regarding mesothelioma and current treatment options.  

“This is our first "Meet the Expert" series webinar. We hope that patients, family members, and physicians will gain something from listening; information surrounding treatment for mesothelioma, how chemotherapy is used, how one is exposed to asbestos, or what is being done today to ban asbestos.”

For additional information please contact Savannah at 310-474-8223 or via email: scline@phlbi.org or visit PMC’s website.