US bans final type of asbestos

What happened

The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday issued a final rule banning chrysotile asbestos, or "white asbestos," the only form of the cancer-causing mineral still being used in the U.S. Exposure to asbestos causes about 40,000 deaths in the U.S. each year, the EPA said.

Who said what

“Folks, it's been a long road," but the "EPA is finally slamming the door on a chemical so dangerous that it has been banned in more than 50 countries," said EPA Administrator Michael Regan. "This historic ban is more than 30 years in the making." The EPA barred asbestos use in 1989 only to have a federal appellate court strike down the rule in 1991.

The commentary

A 2016 overhaul of the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act made the new asbestos ban possible, but the effort "stalled after President Donald Trump came to office in 2017," the BBC said, noting that Trump has frequently praised asbestos.

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What next?

The EPA rule will prohibit imports immediately and phase out asbestos use — from six months for brake pads, to five years for chlorine and sodium hydroxide production.