The EPA’s top chemicals official responded to criticism about the agency’s approach to asbestos, saying Monday that evaluating past and present uses together wasn’t the best “way of moving forward.”
Environmental health groups had sent the Environmental Protection Agency a letter last week urging the agency to include in its risk evaluation both ongoing uses of asbestos and so-called “legacy” uses, such as the cancer-causing mineral’s presence in older buildings. The groups said the agency should “accept its responsibility” under the law to address legacy asbestos.
The agency is analyzing the risks of nine ongoing uses of asbestos, such as ...