This guest post is from the New Jersey car accident law firm of Console & Hollawell.
The recent report from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) on the amount of asbestos consumption in 2011 may come as a surprise to some. What many fail to realize is that asbestos is not totally banned, but rather there are regulations limiting or banning it only in certain aspects.
There is an outright ban on mining asbestos in the United States, but there is nothing saying that we cannot import it. In fact the majority of the asbestos consumed in 2011 came from Canada where there are little or no regulations regarding asbestos which has gained them worldwide scrutiny, especially from the European Union. The report illustrated that the consumption of asbestos has risen more than 25 percent since 2009. It was estimated that there were 1,100 tons of asbestos used in the U.S. in 2011 (compared with only 869 tons in 2009).
The reason many falsely believe that no one purposely uses asbestos anymore is because of the known health risks. There is a direct link between asbestos exposure and a deadly cancer known as mesothelioma. Since it is such a well-known fact that asbestos and mesothelioma are linked, that further fuels the belief that Canada is careless in its failure to ban or regulate the production and exporting of the dangerous carcinogen.
The revisions to the Clean Air Act in 1990 only limited the use of asbestos, it did not ban it. The revision explicitly states that it, “prohibits spray-on application of materials containing more than one percent of asbestos to buildings, structures, pipes, and conduits unless the material is encapsulated with a bituminous or resinous binder during spraying and the materials are not friable after drying.”
It went on to explain that more than one percent asbestos is still acceptable when sprayed on machinery.
The effects of asbestos exposure are severe. Mesothelioma was once a rare cancer, but now has become more common. Each year 10,000 people die from complications related to asbestos exposure. If you or someone you love is suffering from an asbestos-related illness contact an accident lawyer in New Jersey today to find out your legal rights and options.
