Earlier in July, The Washington Post noted that the Environmental Working Group (EWG) and the ADAO had discovered a controversial post on Russian asbestos exporter Uralasbest’s Facebook page showing photos of company pallets stamped with a seal of U.S. President Donald Trump’s face.
As The Post reported, President Trump has long been vocal about his skepticism about the harmful effects of asbestos, claiming in his 1997 book, The Art of the Comeback, that anti-asbestos efforts were “led by the mob.”
The Post reported how in 2012, he tweeted that the World Trade Center might not have burned had the fire-retardant material not been removed from the towers.
Photos of President Trump’s face stamped onto pallets of the chrysotile asbestos appeared on the company’s Facebook page in late June 2018. A post that appeared with the photos explained that Trump had backed former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s decision to not place a blanket ban on the use of asbestos products in the United States. The post also states that President Trump said asbestos was “100 percent” after installation.
Дональд на нашей стороне!Комбинат «Ураласбест» выпустил необычную партию хризотила: на упаковке паллетов с минералом…
Posted by ОАО “Ураласбест” on Sunday, June 24, 2018
Spray-on asbestos applications were banned in the U.S. in the early 1970s. Regulators attempted a complete asbestos ban in 1989, but it was ultimately overturned by the courts. In the end, the asbestos ban was upheld in six key areas: corrugated paper, roll board, commercial paper, specialty paper, flooring felt, and new uses of asbestos
The EPA, under the leadership of Pruitt, published the rule on June 11, 2018 reversing the ban on new uses of asbestos. It states, “The proposed significant new use of asbestos (including as part of an article) is manufacturing (including importing) or processing for certain uses identified by EPA.” Essentially, that means companies could get EPA approval for the use of asbestos in new applications.
There are two questions in my mind over this.
First of all, what, if any science is behind the allowance of asbestos in the use of manufactured items? There doesn’t seem to be much on that so the question regarding consumer safety would be a valid one.
Secondly, somebody advising President Trump dropped the ball on this from the standpoint of public perception. Mention asbestos being reintroduced into the market and people freak out. The optics here are atrocious. It seems that with all of the success that President Trump has attained in the economy and foreign affairs that “someone” on the inside is working at cross-purposes.
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