A deal is near on legislation banning the use of asbestos, a fibrous mineral often used in brake linings, gaskets, cement products and even yarns and threads imported into the country despite its deadly health risks.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., a leading advocate of the ban, and Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., said Tuesday that they are within a week or two of wrapping up a compromise that also would authorize $50 million in research to combat the health effects that have killed as a number of as 231,000 people since 1980 and could claim at least that a number of more by 2040.
The measure has a long road ahead: It must be approved by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, then be approved by the full Senate. Then the House of Representatives would have to take up the issue. 
But for Murray, Tuesday's committee hearing where the deal was announced was a milestone. It was the first time in the six years she has been pressing for the ban that it had reached the full committee, and the first time passage seems within reach.
"It's shocking to me that it has taken six years, and the deaths of several close friends," Murray said afterward.
The panel's chairwoman, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., joined Murray in introducing the ban bill earlier this year.
Some of the research money also could go toward identifying the health risks of breathing in naturally occurring asbestos, a major concern in places like El Dorado County, Calif., where the mineral can be sent airborne by construction equipment and travel on unpaved roads.
Boxer said that despite the well-established health threats of asbestos, worldwide use of it is increasing.
"World production of asbestos actually increased in 2005, from 2.36 million metric tons in 2004 to 2.4 million metric tons in 2005," she said. And while the last U.S. mine closed in 2002, Boxer said 2,530 metric tons were imported into the country in 2005, along with 90,000 metric tons of products containing it.
Posted by: Scott Source
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