Donald Trump and Asbestos – A Global Perspective
In email exchanges in October this year, veteran asbestos observers Francisco Báez Baquet (Spain) and Laurie Kazan-Allen (UK) discussed what an election victory for Donald Trump could mean in terms of the asbestos almost-ban adopted in the US earlier this year and the country’s dialogue on all things asbestos.
In the aftermath of Trump’s victory, his campaign slogans continue to resound and there seems no escape from the Republican’s promises to: “repeal Biden climate policies,” “terminate the green new scam” and “drill, baby, drill. Although no mention has been made by him in recent months about asbestos, campaigners would be right to be concerned given previous statements by the former property developer/media personality. In his 1997 book The Art of the Comeback under the heading: “Asbestos got a bad rap from miners & mob-led movement,” Trump wrote:
“Asbestos is the greatest fireproofing material ever used, and everybody in the construction industry knows it. It is also 100% safe, once applied. But early on, asbestos got a bad rap because of the fact that miners who were digging asbestos for many years would often develop asbestosis, and therefore people thought that asbestos was not safe. I'm not saying it's the greatest material to work with. I'm only saying it's the safest material in terms of fire. A huge and concerted effort was made to have asbestos removed from buildings, causing tremendous dislocation and destruction and creating a new problem: asbestos floating in the air.
I believe that the movement against asbestos was led by the mob, because it was often mob-related companies that would do the asbestos removal. Great pressure was put on politicians, and as usual, the politicians relented. Millions of truckloads of this incredible fireproofing material were taken to special “dump sites” because of this stupid law.”1
Trump reiterated his pro-asbestos position in a 2005 Congressional hearing when he described asbestos as “the greatest fire-proofing material ever made” and in a 2012 tweet in which he claimed that had the “incredibly powerful fire retardant asbestos” not been replaced with “junk that doesn’t work, the World Trade Center would never have burned down.” In 2018, Russian asbestos producers capitalized on Trump’s support by putting his picture on plastic-wrapped shipments of chrysotile (white) asbestos. The image was accompanied by the words “Approved by Donald Trump, 45th President of the United States.2
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In just a few weeks Donald Trump will become the 47th President of the United States. Seeking clarity on what line he might take on asbestos, which has been banned since he left the White House,3 we consulted two US experts, both of whom were helpful; neither wanted to be named. The first individual I spoke to – a union official and one-time federal government appointee – said:
“I am skeptical that reversing the asbestos ban is high on Trump's list for several reasons. First, they have much, much bigger fish to fry at the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] – regulations that cost a lot more money for the regulated community. Because so little asbestos is being produced or used (with a few exceptions) in this country, the affected industries are not that big or powerful.
Second, it's not easy to repeal or change a regulation. You have to go through many of the steps that you had to do to issue it in the first place. That takes staff, legal resources and time. As well as public input and White House review. Even for an agency as large as EPA, the regulatory pipeline is only so wide. And many of the regulatory staff (now “deregulatory” staff) will be busy dismantling other, more significant regulations. At least those staff who are left when they start turning out the lights.”
The second expert contacted – a renowned scientific expert – wrote:
“…the asbestos industry in the US was ended by liability/litigation, on top of widening public awareness and regulation. Because of continuing lawsuits over past sale of largely chrysotile [white asbestos] products, there has been a continuing effort to support the assertion that chrysotile does not cause mesothelioma. Despite the general failure of ‘product defense’ publications in certain scientific journals, at a cost of tens of millions of dollars to defendant corporations, there may still be opposition by such interests to an EPA ban on chrysotile. You will recall the 2003 effort to get EPA to withdraw the ‘Gold Book,’ a 1986 pamphlet warning about the dangers of brake repair – where lawyers working for GM and other brake defendants sought to justify past corporate failure to warn with (then present) government failure to warn. Given that Trump's last EPA chief was a former coal industry lobbyist, it is possible that similar strategies will emerge in the coming administration…”
Asbestos vested interests around the world are in no doubt about the global import of a US asbestos ban. Decades ago, they said as much during presentations at the EPA’s Asbestos Ban and Phase-out Legislative Hearings (1986):
- Etienne van der Rest, Chairman of the Governing Council of the AIA and Chairman of Eternit Belgium: “If a decision of banning asbestos … is taken by USA, you can be assured that many countries will follow your example.”
- Luis Cejudo Alva, General Director of the Mexican Asbestos-Cement Producers Association: “whatever course of action [is] taken by your great country, is of tremendous influence world-wide, and I would say, it affects even more its south of the border neighbour which is Mexico.”
- Dr N. Anoruo Okere, Medical Consultant to the Nigerian Asbestos Association and Medical Director of Nigerite Ltd: “There is no way a US government decision in this issue will not produce bandwagon effect. Many countries and in particular the developing ones look up to the US for leadership in areas of science and technology.”
- Viviano Ferrantini, General Manager of the Brazilian Asbestos Association [Associacao Brasilerira do Amiante]: “all the press in our country put off (sic) the news by saying – ‘USA finishes with asbestos’ and this put in a short time panic in the public and in all those involved with the fiber… I put this point on (sic) to show how every move USA makes – by a government agency or department – as in this case, has a tremendous influence on us all, especially in Latin America.”4
Whether Trump will see any political capital or financial gain in reversing asbestos prohibitions or blocking the introduction of tighter workplace protections remains to be seen. Considering that asbestos consumption last year (2023) was 150 tons – less than 0.1% of what it was 40 years ago – it seems highly unlikely that consumers will be keen to re-embrace a technology which continues to kill up to 15,000 Americans every year.5 Still, with Donald Trump we have learned to expect the unexpected. I guess all that we can do is wait and see what the future holds.
December 11, 2024
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1 Trump, D. The Art of the Comeback. Accessed November 18, 2024. Pages 83-84.
https://www.ontheissues.org/Archive/Art_of_Comeback_Environment.htm
2 Formuzis, A. Russian Asbestos Giant Praises Trump Administration Actions to Keep Deadly Carcinogen Legal. July 11, 2018.
https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news-release/russian-asbestos-giant-praises-trump-administration-actions-keep-deadly#.W1GveNVKhMt
3 Kazan-Allen, L. United States Bans Asbestos – Again! April 16, 2024.
http://ibasecretariat.org/lka-united-states-bans-asbestos-again.php
4 Kazan-Allen, L. October 18, 2011: A Bloody Anniversary. October 11, 2011.
http://ibasecretariat.org/lka-a-bloody-anniversary-2011.php
5 Lunder, A. Asbestos kills 12,000-15,000 people per year in the U.S. Accessed December 8, 2024.
https://www.asbestosnation.org/facts/asbestos-kills-12000-15000-people-per-year-in-the-u-s/
Formuzis, A. New Estimate Finds Asbestos Kills 12,000-15,000 Americans a Year. May 13, 2015.
https://www.asbestosnation.org/new-estimate-finds-asbestos-kills-12000-15000-americans-a-year/
