The Trump administration plans to reconsider a ban on the last type of asbestos still used in the United States, according to a court filing on Monday.
The move, which could halt enforcement of the ban for several years during the reconsideration, is a major blow to a decades-long battle by health advocates to prohibit the carcinogenic mineral in all its forms.
Known as “white” asbestos, chrysotile asbestos is banned in more than 50 countries for its link to lung cancer and mesothelioma, a cancer that forms in the lining of internal organs. White asbestos, however, has been imported for use in the United States for roofing materials, textiles and cement as well as gaskets, clutches, brake pads and other automotive parts. It is also used in chlorine manufacturing.
Last year the Environmental Protection Agency, under President Joseph R. Biden, adopted a ban on the use, manufacture and import of chrysotile asbestos. It was the first legal constraint on a deadly substance since 2016, when Congress updated and strengthened the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act by requiring testing and regulation of thousands of chemicals used in everyday products.
The measure would have still allowed some manufacturers up to 12 years to phase out its use, a provision that followed lobbying efforts by trade groups like the American Chemistry Council.
Now, the Trump administration plans to delay the ban and reconsider the rule. That process is expected to take about 30 months, the E.P.A. said in a filing with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which has been reviewing an industry challenge to the rule.
The delay would “move the nation backward, once again putting lives at risk,” said Linda Reinstein, president and co-founder of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization, an advocacy nonprofit. The group said it planned to challenge the E.P.A.’s motion to delay, and ask the Fifth Circuit to continue reviewing the 2024 rule.
According to the filing, the agency will reconsider removing the rule’s bans on the import and use of asbestos in the production of chlorine, and the installation of new asbestos-containing sheet gaskets in chemical manufacturing and other facilities. The filing was signed by Lynn Dekleva, a former official with the American Chemistry Council who also worked in the first Trump administration.
The E.P.A. said it does not comment on litigation.
Asbestos, a set of six naturally occurring fibrous minerals that have the ability to resist heat, fire and electricity, is linked to an estimated 40,000 deaths annually in the United States. It was first used in construction in the 1930s and became ubiquitous as an insulator in schools, hospitals, homes and offices as well as consumer products.
In the 1960s and 1970s, researchers began to associate it with health problems, including mesothelioma, a rare and aggressive cancer that disproportionately affects firefighters exposed to asbestos through damaged buildings.
Asbestos production in the United States stopped in 2002 but the material is still imported, much of it from Brazil. The presence of asbestos in older homes added to the health risks for firefighters battling the California wildfires this year.
A bill introduced by Senator Jeff Merkley, Democrat of Oregon, in 2023, would ban imports of all asbestos. It has not been introduced in this session.
Hiroko Tabuchi covers pollution and the environment for The Times. She has been a journalist for more than 20 years in Tokyo and New York.
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