Asbestos mortality rate in the United States

At present, 10,000 Americans die every year from our past use of asbestos in this country. The continuing use of asbestos adds to the eventual toll. Liability considerations and regulation have steadily reduced the quantity of asbestos fiber imported and used as a raw material in US manufacturing.

But imported asbestos products continue to enter the country, endangering workers and the general public. Workers in other countries make asbestos products we import, in conditions that would not be permitted here under OSHA and EPA standards. The products are distributed here by companies that may not be labeling them as containing an asbestos cancer hazard in accord with OSHA standards.

And the distributors of the products sold here may or may not be around to pay compensation, by the time people get sick from these products, if they ever figure out why they were stricken with asbestos diseases.

Last, the continuing sale of the asbestos products here undercuts US manufacturers of safer, non-asbestos products, damaging health, contaminating the environment, reducing employment, and harming the US economy.