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ASBESTOS:BAn
- 1. ASBESTOS: IS IT BANNED OR NOT?
- 2. Definition of ASBESTOSASBESTOSis the common name for any variety of silicate materials that are fibrous in structure and are more resistant to acid and fire than other materials. It has two forms, serpentine and amphibole, and is made of impure magnesium silicate. Asbestos is used for thermal insulation, fire proofing, electrical insulation, building materials, brake linings and has been used in numerous industries.
- 3. HISTORYThe word asbestoscomes from the Greek word meaning "inextinguishable" or "indestructible." However, asbestos has been known by many other names including: "mountain leather," "incombustible linen," and "rock floss." The name of chrysotile, one of the most common forms of asbestos, is derived from the Greek words "chrysos" (gold) and "tilos" (fiber) or "gold fiber."
- 4. Asbestos use wasbrought back in the 1700s, but did not become popular until the Industrial Revolution during the late 1800s. It then began to be used as insulation for steam pipes, turbines, boilers, kilns, ovens, and other high-temperature products. Ancient observations of the health risks of asbestos were either forgotten or ignored.
- 5. At the turnof the twentieth century, researchers began to notice a large number of deaths and lung problems in asbestos mining towns. In 1917 and 1918, it was observed by several studies in the United States that asbestos workers were dying unnaturally young.
- 6. In my ownopinion, ASBESTOS is needs to be banned because it contains many chemicals that causing of our deaths.
- 7. It is betterto ban asbestos than to risk the life of people.
- 8.
Editor's Notes
- #2 What Asbestos-Containing Materials are Banned?Companies that mine or have previously mined for asbestos have made large investments after turning it into asbestos-containing materials. The employees of these companies, including their families, have inhaled significant concentrations of asbestos fibers and over a period of time many lives have been lost. What to do about mining for asbestos and where to draw the line are questions that are difficult to answer. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) tried to ban asbestos-containing materials (ACM) entirely by establishing a ban in 1989. The asbestos-producing companies sued to have the ban overturned and they succeeded in 1991 when the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals revoked the ban. After this ruling, the ban was reduced to just six types of ACM, which included the manufacturing, importing, processing, or distribution of those six in commerce.The six types of ACM banned in the United States include:Flooring Felt"Commercial paper" - used in thin barriers for insulation or mufflingCorrugated paper - like corrugated cardboard, but with asbestos in one or more of the layers of paperRollboard - two sheets of asbestos paper laminated together (using a roller) into a continuous, flexible sheet Particularly used in office partitions, garage paneling, linings for stoves and electrical boxes, and fireproofing for security boxes, safes, and file storage "Specialty paper" - for use in filters for beverages and other fluids, and in cooling towers for liquids from industrial processes and air-conditioning systems"New uses of asbestos" - products that have not historically contained asbestos, as of the start of the regulatory process in 1989These six materials cannot be imported in commercial quantities to be sold, processed, or even repackaged in the United States. However, anyone can still buy them outside the United States for personal use and turn them right around and re-export them to places where they are not banned. There is an application process for exemptions from the ban, but it does not seem to be used very often. When these six materials are in the United States, even if just passing through, these products are supposed to be labeled with a six-by-six-inch high-contrast label. The label should state it is a banned asbestos-containing material and that commercial distribution or tampering with the label is a federal crime. Once the material is in use, the label can be removed. According to the EPA, ACMs still allowed to be made in the United States include asbestos pipeline wrap, vinyl-asbestos floor tile, asbestos wall board, asbestos clothing, asbestos-cement corrugated and flat sheeting, asbestos roofing felt, asbestos-cement shingles and pipe, and coatings for roofing. Various automotive products, including friction materials, are also still being manufactured and sold in the United States.Other products that fall under regulated ACM are friable asbestos materials, whether by nature or because of demolition, renovation, abrasion, or other mechanical forces. The two main bodies of law that govern asbestos in the United States are The Clean Air Act (CAA) and the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), otherwise known as Code of Federal Regulations Title 40: Protection of Environment, Part 763. It includes three subparts: "Asbestos-Containing Materials in Schools," "Asbestos Worker Protection," and "Prohibition of the Manufacture, Importation, Processing, and Distribution in Commerce of Certain Asbestos-Containing Products; Labeling Requirements." That third subpart is what remains of the ban attempt.TSCA regulations and guidance are administered and managed by the EPA's Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT), while the CAA regulations are the responsibility of the Office of Air and Radiation (OAR). Under a protocol called Asbestos National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP), which applies to certain public facilities, OAR bans: Most spray-applied surfacing materials that contain asbestos beginning in 1973 as well as fireproofing or insulation for decorative purposes since 1978. Since November 1990, NESHAP regulations have prohibited spray-on application of one percent ACM to buildings, structures, pipes, and conduits. The exception to the material would be if it is encapsulated with a bituminous or resinous binder during spraying and the materials are not friable after drying; regulations do still allow spray-on application of ACM to equipment and machinery under encapsulation or containment. Thermal system insulation - since 1975 defined as wet-applied and preformed asbestos pipe insulation; preformed block insulation on boilers and hot water tanks. The most recent NESHAP revision (1990) does not ban the use of asbestos in "troweled-on surfacing ACM," but the Consumer Product Safety Commission bans the use of asbestos in textured paint or wall patching compounds, which has the same result. The following dates are important to note:1972 was the end of making clothing out of asbestos.1973 was when NESHAP ended spraying asbestos on buildings to fireproof them.1976 was when the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) restricted worker exposure to asbestos to only two fibers per cubic centimeter of air (averaged over eight hours).1977 was the end of using asbestos in patching compounds and gas heaters.1979 saw manufacturers voluntarily quit placing asbestos in hair dryers and recall the ones they had out there to replace the asbestos with other materials. 1986 was when the EPA proposed a ten-year program to ban commercial use of asbestos in the United States entirely.The final rule to implement that program was issued in the middle of 1989. The ban was to take effect in three stages from 1990 to 1996. Stage one took effect as planned in August 1990, but a little more than a year in the federal appeals court essentially vacated the entire ban. The court later clarified the products that weren't coming into new use when the rule was issued. It took two more years of information gathering, but in November 1993, the EPA published the list of the six product categories that still remain under the ban. There is still a lot of ACM, friable and nonfriable, banned or not, for new manufacturing and commerce, in buildings across the country.