EPA bans asbestos with goal of preventing cancer deaths

The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday announced that it is banning ongoing uses of asbestos in the United States as part of President Joe Biden's "Cancer Moonshot," an initiative to cut the cancer death rate in half by 2047.

The new rule will affect chrysotile asbestos, which is the only known form of the substance that is currently imported into or used in the United States, the agency said.   

Asbestos exposure is linked to multiple types of cancers, including lung cancer, ovarian cancer and mesothelioma. It has also been linked to more than 40,000 deaths in the U.S. annually.

EPA Administrator Michael Regan said his agency is "proud to finalize this long-needed ban on ongoing uses of asbestos."

Asbestos was banned by the EPA in 1989, but it was mostly overturned by a 1991 court decision, per The Associated Press. The chemical is banned in more than 50 countries.

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