"Business says a ban would cause job losses and drinking water shortages, but health advocates say it would protect workers and communities at home and abroad".
"RIO DE JANEIRO/WASHINGTON - A groundbreaking move by the Biden administration to ban a key form of asbestos in the United States would close factories and affect thousands of workers, say industry groups and a chemical company pushing for continued use of the cancer-causing mineral.
In a major step in a years-long push, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) earlier this month formally proposed banning chrysotile asbestos, the sole known form of the mineral imported into the United States today.
Asbestos diaphragms are used to produce chlorine in 10 chlor-alkali plants in the United States, one of which is expected to close this year.
The factories, owned by three different firms, account for about a third of U.S.-based chlor-alkali production, while other plants do not use asbestos diaphragms to produce chlorine, according to the EPA."
Fabio Teixeira and David Sherfinski report for Thomson Reuters Foundation April 28, 2022.
