EWG Action Fund

Asbestos Awareness Week: April 1 – April 7, 2019

Asbestos Awareness Week starts today. The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) is kicking off this global campaign of education and awareness about the risks of asbestos and the need for a ban with a candlelight vigil. Throughout the week, they’ll be presenting information from doctors, activists, and victims of asbestos[…]

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Giant Steps Back in the Fight to Ban Asbestos In the United States

Under the Obama Administration, The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) was updated to give the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) more authority to ban asbestos completely in the United States. The carcinogen was originally banned in 1989, but by 1991 the ruling was over-turned. Anti-asbestos advocates have been fighting ever since[…]

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Studies indicate growth of asbestos-related diseases

Because the Environmental Protection Agency began limiting the use of asbestos in the 1970s, many believe it is a disease of generations past. Unfortunately, it’s common use and the lack of a worldwide ban means it still poses significant risks. In fact, many predict resurgence. In 1990, a convention met[…]

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Workers still exposed to asbestos at high levels

Many years have passed since asbestos use became limited in the United States, yet the effects are still felt by workers and families alike. Those employed by steel mills, paper mills, shipyards and more put their lives in danger every day simply by going to work. Unlike other substances, overall[…]

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Asbestos-related deaths higher than previous estimates

Asbestos is a silent killer, infecting its victim and waiting years to make its presence known. Many believe asbestos is a threat of the past and assume it’s banned with no risk of exposure. In reality, asbestos remains a deadly and destructive force. In the 50 years since the landmark[…]

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Mapping the Deadly Toll of Asbestos – State by State, County by County

WASHINGTON (June 30, 2015) – Fifty years after a landmark medical study definitively established that asbestos kills, the exact death toll remains unknown. Now, new research from EWG Action Fund provides the most accurate estimates available for the deadly impact of asbestos – across the nation and in your back[…]

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EPA Inspector General: Agency’s Asbestos Guidance ‘Potential Risk to Public Health’

For Immediate Release: June 17, 2015 Contact: Alex Formuzis, EWG Action Fund: 202.667.6982 or alex@ewg.org Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s official guidance on the demolition of crumbling buildings with asbestos is woefully outdated and must be revamped to protect public health, says the agency’s own inspector general in a[…]

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Ray of hope for nearly 15,000 Americans who die each year of asbestos-related disease

Washington, D.C. – (June 16, 2015) – A man diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2013 saw his tumors virtually disappear within two months of completing an experimental treatment developed by Australian cancer researchers, a newly published study reports. Bradley Selmon, 51, who was exposed to asbestos over years of working as[…]

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Federal Data Show Millions of American Workers Inhaling Asbestos

For Immediate Release: June 10, 2015 Contact: Alex Formuzis, EWG Action Fund: 202.667.6982 or alex@ewg.org Washington, D.C. – For decades, American workers have been breathing air contaminated with asbestos in excess of federal health limits, according to a new analysis of federal government air sampling data. In a study published last month in the[…]

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Asbestos Victims and Families Decry Congressional Push to Run Out the Clock on Compensation

Contact: Alex Formuzis: 202.667.6982 or alex@ewg.org WASHINGTON, D.C.(May 14, 2015)  – In response to today’s congressional action setting up a likely House vote on a bill designed to delay compensating asbestos victims, several prominent victims’ advocates took lawmakers to task for siding with industry instead of public health. The Furthering[…]

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