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Asbestos is one of the most studied and dangerous toxic substances in the world. Hundreds of tons of raw asbestos are imported into the U.S. each year. Most of it is used in the chlor-alkali industry to make chlorine, but asbestos has been found in children’s crayons, talc, automobile brakes, makeup, and other products.
Asbestos is still found in older homes, schools, and other buildings across the country. This leads to significant ongoing exposure and risk to workers and the rest of us. There are tens of thousands of deaths from asbestos-related illnesses in the U.S. each year.
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Yesterday, at the Biden EPA’s request, a federal judge vacated a Trump EPA rule that would have weakened the agency’s ability to protect our health. Hundreds of thousands of Americans and hundreds of scientists spoke out against it, and attorneys general for 14 states and six cities took action in opposition.
Recently, TJX—the parent company of TJ Maxx, Marshall’s, Home Goods, and Sierra Trading Post—announced on its website it is developing an expanded “Chemical Management” strategy. The new program, which follows more than three years of advocacy by the Mind the Store campaign, Clean Water Action, Trillium Asset Management, First Affirmative Financial Network, and the Investor Environmental Health Network, takes an important step forward towards protecting customers, workers, and the environment from toxic chemical exposure, and paves the way for future action.
It was encouraging to see that one of President Biden’s first executive orders directed EPA to review a number of TSCA-related actions by the Trump EPA. While the Biden administration has much to do to right the ship, here are three items we are glad to see on their "Build Back Better" list...
In response to calls from environmental advocacy and labor groups, Canada’s biggest grocery retail and drugstore company, Loblaw Companies Limited, has made a public commitment to phase out thermal receipt paper containing hazardous BPA, BPS, and other bisphenols from its stores by the end of 2021.
