American Public Health Association calls for asbestos ban

The American Public Health Association (APHA) is the world’s oldest public health association. The 50,000 member organization recently adopted a resolution at its annual meeting to call on Congress to pass legislation which would ban the manufacture, sale, import or export of asbestos-containing products, including those products in which asbestos is a contaminant. About 10,000 Americans die of asbestos-related illnesses, including malignant mesothelioma, each year.
With this resolution, the APHA joins the World Federation of Public Health Associations and other international organizations that have called for a global ban on the mining, manufacturing and exporting of asbestos and asbestos-containing products. Nearly 50 industrialized nations have banned asbestos, but neither the United States nor Canada is among them.