“THEY INHALED ASBESTOS FOR DECADES ON THE JOB. NOW, WORKERS BREAK THEIR SILENCE”

WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES, October 20, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ — FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 20, 2022

ADAO STATEMENT ON PROPUBLICA’S ASBESTOS REPORTING: “THEY INHALED ASBESTOS FOR DECADES ON THE JOB. NOW, WORKERS BREAK THEIR SILENCE”

The following statement is from Linda Reinstein, President and Co-Founder of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO), an independent nonprofit dedicated to preventing asbestos exposure through education, advocacy, and community initiatives in response to ProPublica’s detailed investigative report recounts how OxyChem workers were repeatedly exposed to lethal asbestos fibers for decades, putting them and their families at risk of deadly asbestos-caused disease.

“A meaningful asbestos ban is decades overdue. Opposition has consistently come from a single source: the Chlor-alkali industry, whose reliance on this outdated technology at a handful of plants is the reason thousands of tons of raw asbestos continue to be imported and used in the United States. This puts workers, their families, and the surrounding communities at risk for deadly disease and death from asbestos exposure, which as ProPublica detailed, is sickeningly frequent and widespread and without consequences for the companies that allow it to continue.

“This has to stop. Congress must move forward the Alan Reinstein Ban Asbestos Now Act (ARBAN) which will put an end to unnecessary and life-threatening asbestos use, hold the Chlor-alkali industry accountable, and end this nightmare. These companies must stop delaying the inevitable. Since 2016, the Chlor-alkali industry has decreased the number of plants that rely on asbestos diaphragms from 16 to 8, a transition that demonstrates non-asbestos technology is not only possible but profitable. The Olin, OxyChem and Westlake corporations are already transitioning away from asbestos; it’s time to finish the job. They must join us and propose a credible timeline for converting all plants to non-asbestos technology.

“We are once again calling on Congress to move expeditiously. We will be sharing this important reporting which details the true conditions workers face at these Chlor-alkali plants with all members of Congress as we renew our call to support ARBAN.”

There is no safe level of asbestos exposure. Asbestos is a known human carcinogen, it is still not banned in the U.S., and kills more than 40,000 American lives each year.

Read the full article from ProPublica.org “The U.S. Never Banned Asbestos. These Workers Are Paying the Price.”

Tracy Russo
Asbestos Disease Awareness Org
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