EPA Reverses Course; Will Continue Enforcing Asbestos Ban

Less than a month after its lawyers said the agency would “reconsider” the 2024 chrysotile asbestos ban, the same lawyers made a July 2025 vow to enforce it.

The carcinogenic chemical has been mostly phased out in the U.S., but last year, the agency under former President Joe Biden sought to finish the decades-long fight with a comprehensive ban. The EPA in 2024 said, “exposure to asbestos is known to cause lung cancer, mesothelioma, ovarian cancer, and laryngeal cancer, and it is linked to more than 40,000 deaths in the U.S. each year.”

Then, EPA lawyers said parts of the ban went “beyond what is necessary to eliminate the unreasonable risk” and that other options, such as requiring workplace protection measures, might eliminate that risk. The agency said it planned a roughly 30-month process to write new rules.

In the interim, industry groups filed suit to block the ban, arguing that it went too far. Environmental groups also sued to block it, arguing that it didn’t go far enough. EPA bureaucrats predicted that a reversal would cause even more litigation.

Lynn Ann Dekleva, the agency’s deputy assistant administrator of the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, said the EPA will instead address Biden’s “failure to adequately protect chemical industry workers from health risks posed by chrysotile asbestos” on a limited basis.

Asbestos Pros and Cons

Without a doubt, asbestos is the most effective fireproofing mineral. Also without a doubt, asbestos exposure causes mesothelioma and other deadly diseases. So, it’s difficult to weigh the pros and cons of asbestos use.

In ancient times, light industrial workers, mostly textile workers, used asbestos in candle wicks, cooking pots, and other items that must regularly withstand high heat.

Back then, asbestos was a relatively plentiful mineral that was therefore rather cheap. Mining improvements during the Industrial Revolution of the early 1900s gave companies greater access to more asbestos. As a result, asbestos was widely used in many industries. More on that below.

Also, beginning in ancient times, observers noted the connection between asbestos exposure and lung disease. Probably not coincidentally, such reports were sporadic until the aforementioned Industrial Revolution.

The first asbestosis victims filed suit in the 1920s, and the first mesothelioma victims took action in the 1960s. Asbestosis is a lung disease that clogs airways with scar tissue, and mesothelioma is a rare and aggressive form of heart-lung cancer.

The asbestos coverup may be the tiebreaker. In the years between the 1920s and 1960s, companies used asbestos unabated while concealing the health risks. Much later, Johnson & Johnson did the same thing. Executives who knew that the company’s talcum powder was laced with asbestos did nothing for over twenty years.

Industrial Asbestos Use

Today, EPA bureaucrats are concerned with the effect of asbestos exposure on chemical workers. That’s understandable. But asbestos use went well beyond chemical companies. Construction companies, shipbuilders, and auto parts manufacturers all used asbestos.

Asbestos was the primary ingredient in most insulation and a secondary ingredient in many other construction products, such as roof tiles and drywall. Shipbuilders packed vessels with asbestos, especially in boiler rooms and other high-heat areas, to reduce the risk of onboard fires. Back in the day, brake pads and other such parts were almost pure asbestos.

The workers who handled asbestos-laced products aren’t the only ones at risk. Microscopic asbestos fibers are only slightly heavier than air. These particles float into common areas, like cafeterias and parking lots, where they infect people who never touch asbestos parts.

All infected workers usually have legal options. A nationwide mesothelioma lawyer can usually obtain compensation for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering.

Contact a Diligent Attorney

Mesothelioma victims need and deserve significant compensation. For a free consultation with an experienced nationwide mesothelioma lawyer, contact the Throneberry Law Group. We have offices in Arizona and six other states from coast to coast.