EPA to require asbestos manufacturers to report use, exposure information

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EPA asbestos exposure overview: 

• Who: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced a new rule to help protect citizens from exposure to asbestos.
• Why: The rule will require companies to report on all types of asbestos and exposure information for the past four years.
• Where: The EPA asbestos exposure rule is active in the United States.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced a new rule to help protect citizens from exposure to asbestos, a known carcinogen.

On July 6, the EPA issued a press release detailing the rule, which will require comprehensive reporting on all six fiber types of asbestos.

The rule, issued under section 8(a) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), requires asbestos manufacturers and processors to report certain use and exposure information from the past four years, including information on asbestos-containing products.

“We know that exposure to asbestos causes cancer and other serious health problems that still result in thousands of people dying every year, and today we’re continuing our work to protect people from this dangerous chemical,” EPA Assistant Administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention Michal Freedhoff said. 

“We’ve already proposed to ban chrysotile asbestos, and the data we’ll receive from this final rule will help us to better evaluate and address the health risks from the remaining uses and types of asbestos.”

Data will be used to inform future asbestos action

The EPA said it intends to use data collected through the reporting rule to help inform future actions involving asbestos, including the ongoing risk evaluation for “legacy uses” of asbestos and potential future risk management.

The reporting rule applies to manufacturers, importers or processors of asbestos between 2019 and 2022 with annual sales above $500,000. Those businesses are required to report exposure-related information, including quantities of asbestos manufactured or processed, types of use, and employee data. 

The rule also covers asbestos-containing products and asbestos that is present as a component of a mixture, the EPA said. Manufacturers and processors subject to the rule will have nine months following the effective date of the final rule to collect and submit all required information to EPA, the agency said.

The move comes after the EPA narrowed the scope of the TSCA risk evaluation for asbestos by only reviewing certain uses of one fiber type of this chemical, chrysotile asbestos, under President Donald Trump’s administration, it said. 

The agency’s failure to consider additional asbestos fibers and its decision to exclude legacy uses and associated disposals of the substance resulted in litigation, with a court ruling in 2019 that the agency unlawfully excluded “legacy uses” and “associated disposal” from TSCA’s definition of “conditions of use.”

In March, the EPA also proposed a new rule to limit “forever chemicals” in drinking water.

What do you think of this new rule for reporting on asbestos? Let us know in the comments! 

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