More criticism for epa’s asbestos regulations plans

The federal Environmental Protection Agency continues to come under heavy fire over its proposed changes to asbestos regulations. This time, experts are accusing the EPA of watering down the regulations in an attempt to placate big industry. Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency announced plans to hold a public meeting to discuss the method of assessing asbestos-related carcinogenic risks as outlined by the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER). Many public health experts have subsequently spoken about their concerns with the EPA’s plans. The meeting, held on the 21st and 22nd of July, was attended by asbestos and asbestos disease experts, including Richard A. Lemen, a pioneering asbestos researcher and former Assistant Surgeon General, and Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization director Linda Reinstein. Currently the EPA uses methods which were developed in the 1980s, based on phase contrast microscopy as a measure of numbers of asbestos particles in samples being tested. This method was developed using existing data from cohorts of workers previously exposed to asbestos in various industrial settings. However, the EPA methodology currently in use does not account for differences between different types of asbestos, and varying sizes and shapes of asbestos fibers. OSWER is proposing that an interim method be developed which accounts for these and other factors when assessing asbestos exposure risks. The problem, some public health experts say, is that this may lead to some types of asbestos being considered “safer” than othersâ€"and that this is a dangerous way to regulate a highly toxic substance. Many high respected asbestos experts believe that all asbestos should be considered dangerous, and that there is no safe level of exposure. After the EPA’s meeting this week many of the attendees have denounced the plans, but according to recent reports the EPA may end up making the changes regardless. Another concern for experts is that the EPA’s proposal seems to be being rushed through the approval processâ€"many physicians and scientists in federal organizations who would normally have a chance to review such plans haven’t had so much as a quick glance at the EPA’s proposal. Even worse are the rumors that the EPA is rushing its proposal through in an effort to appease complaints from the automotive, mining, construction and chemical industries, all of which are feeling the sting of lawsuits from people who have developed asbestos-related diseases due to exposure over the past several decades. The EPA appointed twenty scientists to its Scientific Advisory Board asbestos panel, asking them to evaluate the agency’s plan to change the way chrysotile asbestosâ€"the most common typeâ€"is assessed in terms of the risks of exposure. Decades worth of research confirming that chrysotile is deadly were ignored by the EPA in favor of other studies claiming it does not cause mesothelioma. According to one report, lawyers who routinely defend corporations against asbestos claims say passage of the EPA’s proposed regulation concerning chrysotile would vastly increase their chances of winning lawsuits relating to diseases caused by exposure to this type of asbestos. (Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News)