EPA bans asbestos, a deadly carcinogen still in use decades after a partial ban was enacted

WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday announced a comprehensive ban on asbestos, a carcinogen that kills tens of thousands of Americans every year but is still used in some chlorine bleach, brake pads and other products. While chlorine is a commonly used disinfectant in water treatment, there are only eight chlor-alkali plants in the U.S. that still use asbestos diaphragms to produce chlorine and sodium hydroxide. The EPA rule will ban imports of asbestos for chlor-alkali as soon as the rule is published but will phase in prohibitions on chlor-alkali use over five or more years to provide what the agency called “a reasonable transition period.’' A ban on most other uses of asbestos will effect in two years. The National Association of Clean Water Agencies, which represents 350 publicly owned wastewater treatment agencies, said in a statement that it supports “EPA’s efforts to move away from asbestos products’’ and will work with the agency to track implementation of the rule. The association warned before the final rule was announced that an immediate ban on asbestos would “almost certainly cause shortages and price increases for chlorine and other disinfection and treatment chemicals used by the water sector.’' The American Chemistry Council, the chemical industry’s largest lobbying group, said a 15-year transition period is needed to avoid a significant disruption of chlorine and sodium hydroxide supplies.