American Notes Health

As a once popular fire retardant used in everything from clothes to building materials, asbestos is estimated to cause between 3,300 and 12,000 deaths in the U.S. each year from lung cancer, mesothelioma (a rare cancer of the chest and abdominal lining) and asbestosis (a degenerative lung disease). Last week the Environmental Protection Agency finally proposed a program to phase out all use of the carcinogenic mineral within ten years. Agency experts calculate that the ban would save some 1,900 lives during the next 15 years. "I believe there can be no debate about the health risks of asbestos," said EPA Administrator Lee M. Thomas.

Stymied for more than six years because of objections from the Office of Management and Budget (which monitors agency regulations), the EPA's complicated phaseout will be analysed for a year before taking effect. Even then, it would not apply to any asbestos products already in place but would ban future sales of the material in roofing and flooring, tiles, cement and clothing. Other asbestos-related products would be labeled as such. Replacing asbestos with more expensive substitutes should cost consumers about $1.8 billion through the end of the century.