Days after the abrupt demolition of the East Wing of the White House, critics are questioning whether the Trump administration and contractors involved in razing the historic structure adhered to federal health and safety standards, including those governing the handling of hazardous materials like asbestos, a dangerous and potentially deadly substance widely used during the period of the East Wing’s original construction.
On Thursday, Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., penned a letter to executives at the firm responsible for the demolition seeking evidence that the company complied with regulations dictating the safe removal of asbestos and lead — or if, instead, they “cut corners” and “gambled with people’s health.”
“The demolition of a structure of the age and historic national significance of the East Wing demands the highest possible standards of care, not the lowest bid and a blind eye toward regulation,” Markey wrote to leaders of ACECO, a Maryland-based demolition contractor.
The senator’s overture comes days after the nation’s largest asbestos victims’ organization raised alarms about whether the White House may have deviated from accepted practices for handling these materials.
“Federal law requires comprehensive asbestos inspection, notification, and abatement before any demolition,” wrote the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) last week. “No publicly available information demonstrates that these statutory obligations have been fulfilled.”
A White House official would not say whether asbestos was found in the East Wing, but told ABC News that “a very extensive abatement and remediation assessment was followed, complying with all applicable federal standards.”
The official said that “any hazardous material abatement was done in September,” prior to the demolition earlier this month.
But Linda Reinstein, the president of ADAO, said she has seen no public evidence to suggest that an assessment or abatement took place. Federal standards require rigorous inspections to be done prior to demolition, and those inspections are then documented with a certification. If asbestos is found, workers on site would be observed wearing protective equipment, like hazmat suits.
“I am deeply concerned for White House staff and others working in or near the East Wing demolition site,” Reinstein said. “It remains unclear what measures have been taken to ensure the safe removal of deadly asbestos and other hazardous materials.”
Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral that was commonly used in mid-century structures for fireproofing and insulation, before its deadly health risks were fully known. Invisible asbestos fibers can become airborne whenever materials containing asbestos are disturbed during demolition, renovation, or even routine maintenance.
Doctors warn that there is no safe level of asbestos exposure, and that even short, unprotected demolition work can damage the lungs and increase the risk of developing mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lungs. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, exposure to asbestos fibers can cause scarring in the lungs and increases the risk of mesothelioma and lung cancer.
Dr. Raja Flores, a top lung doctor who is a professor and Chairman of Thoracic Surgery at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, said it can take years after inhaling the fibers for symptoms to arise.
The progressive lung disease and cancer that can occur after asbestos exposure “makes you weak, you feel short of breath, feel like you’re drowning and all these symptoms develop over a long period of time,” Flores said. “It is a prolonged and agonizing torture.”
“You wouldn’t catch me in there — not without a mask” and “not without precautions,” Flores said, referring to the White House complex during demolition.
Although White House officials would not say whether asbestos existed in the building, some experts suggest that its age and the era of its construction mean that it likely had the presence of the fiber. Originally completed in 1800, the building underwent major renovations in the 1940s and 50s, at the peak of asbestos use in buildings.
Last week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent defended President Donald Trump’s decision to demolish the East Wing, citing in part his assumption that “parts of the East Wing could have been asbestos, could have been mold.”
The demolition of the East Wing has been unpopular with most Americans, according to new polling released Thursday morning.
A 56% majority of Americans oppose the Trump administration tearing down the East Wing of the White House as part of the construction of a 90,000-square-foot ballroom paid for by $300 million in private donations, including 45% who “strongly” oppose it, according to an ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll conducted using Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel.
President Trump said in July that the ballroom project would not interfere with the existing White House structure. But last week, as crews began to raze the East Wing, an official said the “entirety of the East Wing will be modernized.”
By Thursday, satellite images from Planet Labs PBC showed the East Wing reduced to rubble.
The White House has required at least some of the construction workers tasked with demolishing the East Wing to sign nondisclosure agreements barring them from discussing their work, according to sources familiar with the project.
A White House official told ABC News that requiring workers to sign NDAs is “standard” practice, given aspects of the project deal with the operational security of the White House.
Bob Sussman, who was the deputy EPA administrator under President Bill Clinton and senior EPA policy counsel under President Barack Obama, said “the speed with which all this happened and the reasons why it happened so quickly should have raised many questions.”
Some environmental and health experts are warning about potential risks to the public if demolition debris that may contain asbestos is being moved off White House grounds without the appropriate safety measures.
“I am concerned that wherever they move this debris, the population in that area is going to be at risk for 20 to 30 years,” Dr. Flores said.
Markey’s letter seeks details from ACECO on the timeline of the demolition, the process it followed, what permits were sought, and whether any incidents were reported, and asks ACECO to respond by Nov. 12.
ABC News’ Jared Kofsky contributed to this report.
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