"A 'Poster Child' For Policy Failure: Will EPA Ban Asbestos?"

"When former President Obama signed a new version of the nation's leading toxics law in 2016, he singled out one chemical.

'Our country hasn't even been able to uphold a ban on asbestos,' Obama noted.

Advocates now hope President Biden will address the issue by revisiting major decisions made under the Trump administration. Their priorities include a controversial risk assessment that they hope Biden's EPA will redo, among other regulatory targets.

Public health experts have long pointed to asbestos as an indictment of U.S. chemicals policy. In interviews, multiple experts and advocates cited it as a prime reason for criticisms of the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), and a major reason that law was overhauled by Congress."

E.A. Crunden reports for E&E News March 12, 2021.