Clyde & Co – EPA Evaluation Finds Asbestos Still An Unreasonable Risk

Author - Various

The evaluation of six regularly occurring uses of asbestos was reported as providing unreasonable risk to human health through either occupational exposures or consumer uses. In Part 1 of its Final Risk Evaluation for Asbestos, the Environmental Protection Agency reported on Chrysotile asbestos and found "unreasonable risks to consumers and bystanders from all consumer uses of chrysotile asbestos," and also provided risks as a result of indirect contact with the material. The occupational uses deemed dangerous by the EPA included industrial use of asbestos-containing brake blocks in the oil industry and commercial use of aftermarket automotive asbestos-containing brakes/linings. The distribution of products containing asbestos and the importation of chrysotile asbestos was not deemed as providing unreasonable risk by the agency. The report was created after asbestos was identified as a chemical to be examined in the 2016 amendment of the Toxic Substances Control Act.