Two Countries, Two Asbestos Policies
The anxiety levels of Australian parents reached breaking point last month (November, 2025) over a barrage of news regarding the illegal import of asbestos-containing toys from China. Unfortunately, the sale of toxic play sand was not the only asbestos bombshell to hit Australia in recent weeks. Even as multiple brands and products containing the sand were recalled, it emerged that Chinese-made brake pads for wind turbines and imported building products installed at a new college in Western Australia were also contaminated.1 Commenting on this news, Melita Markey, the CEO of the Asbestos Diseases Society of Australia (ADSA), said:
“Even though Australia prohibited the use of asbestos in 2003, banned products are still being sold. In recent weeks the Society’s staff have been fielding a tsunami of calls, texts, emails and messages from parents desperately worried about the repercussions of their children’s exposure to sand contaminated with chrysotile and/or tremolite asbestos. The discovery last week of 14 asbestos-containing fire doors at the new $853 million Perth campus of Edith Cowan University, five miles from our office, was as distressing as it was infuriating.
In the almost 50 years since the ADSA was founded, we have lost far too many members to asbestos-related diseases. As we remembered them at our annual ecumenical service on November 28, we were mindful of the lives still being imperiled by deadly exposures. How many more will die before the asbestos hazard has been eradicated not only from the built environment, registered landfills and illegal dumpsites, but also from the stream of goods coming into the country. We must do better.” 2
 November 28, 2025. Candles of Remembrance at the ADSA Ecumenical Service at the Saint Lawrence & Mary Immaculate Church, Perth, Australia. Photograph reproduced by kind permission of the ADSA. |
More than 11,000 miles from Perth, the prevailing attitude in Washington, D.C. was diametrically opposed. At the end of October, 2025, it was reported that the East Wing of the White House had been unceremoniously demolished to make way for a $300 million 90,000 sq feet new ballroom described by one critic as a “monstrous carbuncle on the face of an old and elegant friend.”3 The timing of the destruction during the US government shutdown did not go unnoticed nor do the apparent failures of compliance with local and federal asbestos guidelines. Many of the key objections to the “unauthorized” and precipitous destruction of the East Wing – which was suspected of containing both asbestos and lead – were detailed in a 5-page letter to the President written by US Senators Sheldon Whitehouse, Martin Heinrich & Gary C. Peters on October 30, 2025.4
Worse was to come. On November 28, 2025, the US Food and Drug Administration, Department of Health and Human Services announced it was withdrawing a proposal by the Biden Administration to allow “further consideration and assessment prior to issuing final regulations to establish and require standardized testing methods for detecting and identifying asbestos in talc-containing cosmetic products pursuant to the Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act of 2022.”5
While some commentators seemed resigned to the disappointing turn of affairs, others were incandescent: “the agency’s decision to withdraw the rule [was] both ‘reckless and dangerous’” said Democratic Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky.6 Senior Scientist at the Environmental Working Group (EWG) Tasha Stoiber PhD said: “This announcement means Americans will be needlessly exposed to asbestos in personal care products”7 while her colleague Scott Faber, EWG’s Senior Vice President of Government Affairs, added:
“I think there’s a better chance Santa is going to come down my chimney than for FDA to propose a new rule… Nothing says happy holidays like more cancer… We’re going back to the honor system, where we simply trust companies to test these products and cross our fingers and hope they’re free of asbestos.”8
A google search using the keywords “FDA,” “asbestos,” and “cancer” came up with a number of articles most of which had rather prosaic titles; some headlines, however, were more emotive with words such as “crazy” and “kill;”
- ‘Just crazy’: FDA facing backlash over withdrawal of proposed rule to screen some cosmetics for asbestos;
- FDA poised to kill proposal that would require asbestos testing for cosmetics;
- U.S. pulls back on asbestos protections again – this time in your cosmetics;
- FDA nixes plan to require talc-based powders to be tested for asbestos;
- FDA Pulls Requirement for Asbestos Testing in Talc-Containing Cosmetics;
- FDA Reverses Proposed Rule To Test Cosmetics Containing Talc For Asbestos;
- FDA Withdraws Talc Asbestos Rule for Cosmetics;
- FDA Pulls Plan to Require Asbestos Testing in Talc-Based Cosmetics;
- FDA Scraps Plans To Test Cosmetics for Asbestos.
Needless to say, the FDA’s announcement buried during the week of the Thanksgiving holiday, was a source of rejoicing in Russia, the world’s largest asbestos producer.9 An online article which appeared on the same day as the FDA’s news was made public suggested that under the leadership of the pro-asbestos President, the US was finally coming to its senses. According to the unnamed reporter:
“…the US President is trying to end the ‘witch hunt’ related to asbestos. Given that American and European courts often reject rational evidence in asbestos cases, this is more a blow to the Democratic Party’s tool of influence, which is based on ‘anti-asbestos hysteria’that is, the myths and fears surrounding asbestos circulating in the media and public discourse. Current US legislative practices regarding asbestos often reflect this reality, rather than science and modern research. However, there is hope that the situation will change in the coming years.” 10
The optimism expressed above was most likely based on Donald Trump’s long-term support for asbestos. In his 1997 book – The Art of the Comeback – he alleged that asbestos was “100 percent safe, once applied.”11 Trump reiterated this 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 showed their appreciation for Trump’s support by putting his picture on plastic wrapping of asbestos sacks.12
 Widely reported marketing coup by Uralasbest, Russia’s second biggest asbestos producer, featured the image of President Trump 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.” |
Concluding Thoughts
According to recently published asbestos mortality data there were 236,035 deaths due to asbestos-related diseases and cancers in 2023.13 Whilst this figure is most likely to be an underestimate, it underscores the price still being paid for toxic exposures. Asbestos bans are just a beginning; without strict safety protocols and enforcement measures, these avoidable deaths will continue for decades to come. Citizens in countries which fail to act on the asbestos hazard have the right to know why their governments continue to embrace a deadly and discredited technology. Now, would be a good time to ask.
December 10, 2025
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1 Asbestos found in new Edith Cowan University campus in Perth CBD. December 6, 2025.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-06/asbestos-found-in-new-ecu-campus-in-perth-cbd/106109070
2 Email from Melita Markey. December 7, 2025.
3 Morrison, D. East Wing demolition isn’t the first time Trump has ruffled feathers with a wrecking ball. October 25, 2025.https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/10/25/trump-demolition-history-east-wing-construction-ballroom/86833144007/
Borst, E., Richards, H. White House dodged East Wing asbestos permits. December 1, 2025.
https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eenews/2025/12/01/white-house-dodged-east-wing-asbestos-permits-00669670
4 What is the White House East Wing and why has it been torn down in Trump’s renovation plans? October 25, 2025.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/25/what-is-the-white-house-east-wing-and-why-has-it-been-torn-down-in-trumps-renovation-plans
Kazan-Allen, L. Asbestos Alarm Raised over White House “Tear Down.” November 6, 2025.
https://ibasecretariat.org/lka-asbestos-alarm-raised-over-white-house-tear-down.php
Whitehouse, S., Heinrich, M. Peters, G. Letter to President Donald Trump. October 30, 2025.
https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/6/1/613810bd-25f9-4673-a4e6-020a83d37379/C43848B6B7C690FA0FF882235C4D7EEEEBEC27D65D03BE01352EE6EB3680AA72.10.30.2025-letter-to-president-trump-re-white-house-ballroom.pdf
5 US National Archives. Testing Methods for Detecting and Identifying Asbestos in Talc-Containing Cosmetic Products; Withdrawal. November 28, 2025.
https://federalregister.gov/d/2025-21407
An insightful article on the Australia-US asbestos dichotomy was uploaded on December 9, 2025.
Robertson, J., Atkin, M., Gribbin, C. Fluke discoveries of asbestos in children's sand strike twice decades apart.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-09/fluke-discoveries-asbestos-children-play-sand-decades-apart/106056760
6 Martin, R. ‘Just crazy’: FDA facing backlash over withdrawal of proposed rule to screen some cosmetics for asbestos. November 26, 2025.
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5624086-fda-asbestos-cosmetics/
7 Noble, A. Do You Need to Be Worried About Asbestos in Makeup Again? December 5, 2025.
https://www.vogue.com/article/fda-withdraws-rule-to-test-asbestos-in-talc-cosmetics
8 ibid
9 Конец охоты на ведьм? Администрация Трампа отозвала требование тестировать косметику на асбест [The end of the witch hunt? The Trump Administration Has Rescinded the Asbestos Testing Requirement for Cosmetics]. November 28, 2025.
https://tolyatti.bezformata.com/listnews/kosmetiku-na-asbest/153770757/
10 ibid.
11 Kazan-Allen, L. Donald Trump and Asbestos – A Global Perspective. December 11, 2024.
https://www.ibasecretariat.org/lka-donald-trump-and-asbestos-a-global-perspective.php
12 ibid.
13 The estimated number of global mesothelioma deaths in 2023 was 27,988.72.
Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. GBD Data. Accessed December 8, 2015,
https://vizhub.healthdata.org/gbd-compare/
Kazan-Allen, L. Global Asbestos Mortality: 2025 Update. December 2, 2025.
https://ibasecretariat.org/lka-global-asbestos-mortality-2025-update.php
