Remarks for the Asbestos Rule Press Call, As Prepared for Delivery
Michael Regan
Washington, DC
Good morning, everyone! Thank you all for joining.
Before we begin, I’d like to thank EPA’s Assistant Administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, Dr. Michal Freedhoff, for sharing the history behind today’s announcement and for her work surrounding this important public health issue.
I’d also like to thank White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Arati Prabhakar for joining us, and for her leadership.
Representative Bonamici, thank you for joining us today.
We are grateful for your persistence and dedication to protecting public health and for leading the fight against the use of asbestos in Congress.
We’re also grateful to have Scott Faber from the Environmental Working Group here with us.
Scott, thank you for your work and advocacy. We appreciate you joining today.
While the use of asbestos in the United States has been declining for decades, the use of chrysotile asbestos has continued to this day.
Because of its resistance to heat, fire, and electrical conduction, it has remained in use for a variety of construction and industrial products.
But the science is clear and settled—there is simply no safe level of exposure to asbestos.
Asbestos can cause lung cancer, mesothelioma, ovarian cancer, and a host of other serious health challenges.
The use of asbestos is a public health concern that has spanned generations, and it’s an issue that has impacted the lives of countless people.
EPA understands this, and so does President Biden.
Today, as part of President Biden’s Cancer Moonshot, a whole-of-government approach to ending cancer as we know it, I’m pleased to announce that EPA is banning chrysotile asbestos—the last remaining kind of asbestos still used in our country.
Folks, it’s been a long road, but with today’s ban, EPA is finally slamming the door on a chemical so dangerous that it’s been banned in over 50 countries.
This historic ban is more than 30 years in the making, and it’s thanks to amendments that Congress made in 2016 to fix the Toxics Substances Control Act.
Today’s ban is EPA’s first final rule issued under the new process for evaluating and addressing the safety of existing chemicals under the 2016 TSCA amendments, and it’s a sign of what’s to come.
The Biden Administration is transforming the way EPA is using the new chemical safety law to do what it was meant to do: protect people from toxic chemicals.
And we are not alone in our efforts.
Agencies across the federal government are mobilizing resources and working together to advance President Biden’s Cancer Moonshot initiative, and end cancer as we know it.
Some of our federal partners are learning how to detect cancer earlier, and others are discovering ways to treat cancer more effectively and help people live longer.
At EPA, we are uniquely positioned as the only agency that can use our authority to prevent cancers caused by environmental exposures from occurring in the first place—and so much of that power lies in TSCA.
Since day one, the Biden-Harris Administration and EPA have been hard at work to get our nation’s chemical safety program back on track.
This year alone, we’re going to finish proposing nine of the first 10 chemicals reviewed under the new law, and finalize most of them, including asbestos.
With these steps, we’re demonstrating the strength and impact of TSCA, and the difference it can make in the health and safety of so many communities across our country.
And we’re finally putting an end to the dangerous public health threat posed by asbestos, once and for all.
At EPA, protecting public health and the environment is our privilege and greatest responsibility, and today’s rule is a major step forward in helping us to achieve our goals.
Thank you. It’s now my pleasure to turn it over to Director Prabhakar.