ADAO Hosts 10th Asbestos Congressional Staff Briefing

Already, in 2016 great strides have been made in the effort to ban asbestos. While it’s still not completely banned yet, the passage of the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (text of the act) – with strong bipartisan support – opened the door for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ban asbestos.

At the forefront of these efforts are groups such as the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO), who ensured that asbestos was addressed specifically in the Lautenberg Act. The ADAO and other organizations also participated as stakeholders in the EPA’s two-day set of public meetings to discuss the chemical review and prioritization process.

While this progress is great, there is still a lot of work to be done! Now more than ever, it is important to keep the ball rolling to make sure that the politicians, officials, and others follow through on actually implementing a ban on asbestos. The tools are available, but they are useless unless we actually put them to use!

One effort to make sure that progress continues is making sure that congressional representatives are aware of the dangers surrounding asbestos, its link to mesothelioma and other diseases, and related issues. With that in mind, on September 13th, the ADAO is hosting its 10th Asbestos Congressional Staff Luncheon Briefing. As with past events, these educational briefings bring the latest information about the dangers of asbestos and the critical need to implement a ban immediately.

Asbestos takes 15,000 lives every year in the United States – and yet, this deadly substances remains legal. Earlier this year, President Obama acknowledged the damage that asbestos can do and empowered the EPA to do something about it by signing into law the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, the first update to the Toxic Chemical Safety Act in 40 years. Now that the EPA is actively deciding the process for prioritizing its list of high-risk chemicals, we need to make sure that asbestos gets on that list.

Therefore, the ADAO is hosting its 10th Asbestos Congressional Staff Briefing to provide senate staff members the opportunity to learn more about the dangers of asbestos, why prioritizing asbestos is critical, and what are the next steps we need to take.

Date: Tuesday, September 13, 2016
Time: 12:00 – 1:00 pm
Where: Dirksen Senate Office Building
Speakers:

These speakers will focus on topics related to the implementation of The Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, including how to ensure that the EPA prioritizes asbestos as one of the first ten chemicals to be reviewed and regulated under the new law.