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Mesothelioma Awareness Day and ADAO, the Group that Started it All

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The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization, ADAO, was the group that started it all. It began in 2004 when two people, Doug Larkin and Linda Reinstein, who had loved ones suffering from mesothelioma saw a need and worked to find a way to stop this deadly disease. They found it through the ADAO as they began spreading the message about asbestos and mesothelioma.

Today is Mesothelioma Awareness Day, started by ADAO, and a perfect time to look at this amazing organization that makes fighting for past, current, and future victims of asbestos its goal.

The journey

Caring for, and watching their family members die, put the founders in contact with others going through the same painful journey – a journey that could be prevented for the generations to come if the mineral at the heart of it all could be banned. Fourteen years later, it is still not banned in the United States, but is in many parts of the world.

This group started slowly but gathered momentum as other victims and their family members learned of its existence. Today, thanks to people from all walks of life: patients, caregivers, and a host of donors and volunteers, the ADAO boasts a network of over 50,000 people who share in this quest to eradicate mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases from the world.

More than a ban

While the ADAO does strive for a ban, their mission goes beyond that with three initiatives: education, advocacy, and community.

Education

The ADAO has gathered a built an extensive library that is shared throughout the globe, along with a website brimming with information about asbestos and what you can do. There are speakers at conferences and events around the world presenting opportunities to interact and share information with others on similar missions. Each year, the ADAO hosts its own conference, the International Asbestos Awareness Conference where the latest information on the status of prevention and treatments is shared. In 2019, the conference will be in Washington, D.C. on April 5-7.

Advocacy

Since 2004, the ADAO has presented 13 staff briefings for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. They’ve created and sponsored a bill, the Alan Reinstein Ban Asbestos Now Act, that is supported by both the House and the Senate. This bill would require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to finally – and permanently – remove the possibility of all human or environmental asbestos exposure.

Community

Caring for someone suffering from mesothelioma is an isolating experience. Linda Reinstein experienced that as she cared for her husband and knew it was an important part of the ADAO mission to support those with the disease and those caring for them. There are groups throughout social media to provide contacts and support without leaving home, there are campaigns, like “Share Your Story” and “6 Word Quotes” that educate about the dangers of asbestos and unite those living with the aftermath of exposure.

The fight continues

Until asbestos is banned throughout the world and there is no one suffering any longer from this disease, the ADAO will continue to fight to educate, support, and bring the issues of exposure to those in government who can make a difference.

You can sign a petition to the EPA for a final ban on asbestos, follow the ADAO on Facebook and Twitter, and get their eNewsletter – all ways to stay informed.

SPREP Countries Vote to Ban Asbestos

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The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP,) comprising 21 Pacific island and five metropolitan areas, voted to “restrict the importation, re-use and re-sale of products and wastes containing asbestos in Pacific island countries.”

The impetus for this move was the Rotterdam Convention’s failure in past years to list chrysotile asbestos on Annex III of the Convention. That failure–combined with results of an asbestos baseline survey of the Pacific region in 2014–revealed new asbestos-containing building materials are still being imported into the region. In addition, the survey uncovered over 145,000 square meters of confirmed high or moderate risk non-residential asbestos across 11 Pacific island countries.

This 2014 survey was conducted by PacWaste, a project funded by the European Union. Prior votes to ban asbestos at SPREP meetings were hampered by concerns for resourcing implementation of such a ban. The current vote to ban was supported by an announcement that the European Union would provide funding through a new project called PacWaste Plus.

Mr. Christoph Wagner, Head of Cooperation at the European Union Delegation for the Pacific, recognized this achievement saying, “We welcome this decision from Pacific Island nations to work towards joining 59 other countries, including all member states of the European Union, to ban asbestos. It’s a fantastic outcome for the health and wellbeing of communities across the Pacific region, and an effective recognition of the work undertaken through PacWaste and planned for PacWaste Plus.”

Unfortunately, the United States has not yet fully banned asbestos. Since asbestos-related diseases, such as lung cancer and mesothelioma, can take up to 50 years before diagnosis, it is important that a full ban of asbestos importation and use in products become law to save the lives of current and future generations.

Asbestos Awareness Observed

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The non-profit Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) dedicated April 1-7 to spreading the word about the dangers of asbestos exposure through a Global Asbestos Awareness Week. This year’s theme is “Hear Asbestos. Think Prevention.”

Why is there a week dedicated to asbestos awareness?

Deaths from asbestos are preventable with a ban on use and widespread education on handling of asbestos already in place. Yet, almost 70% of the world – including the U.S. – still allows its use. This lethal mineral has far-reaching consequences, as diseases from asbestos exposure, such as mesothelioma, may not be diagnosed for 50 years.

By dedicating a week to educate the public about the risks of asbestos and their prevention, people are empowered to speak up when they recognize instances of possible asbestos harm. Harmful situations observed could include contractors tearing down or remodeling pre-1980s buildings – residences and commercial – without testing for asbestos, workplace situations where asbestos was used for insulation from high temperature areas such as boilers and is still in place but damaged, or for do-it-yourself projects in an older home without testing insulation, tiles, or floor mastic. While there is promising research for treatment leading to a cure, mesothelioma remains a terminal disease.

The 2017 ADAO Conference

The ADAO further educates through the ADAO Conference, held this year from April 7 – 9 in Arlington, VA. This group not only educates the public, but congressmen and other politicians who control the ability to ban asbestos and put in stricter regulations on the asbestos already in use. ADAO was instrumental in the 2016 passage of the Lautenberg Act, which strengthened the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and prioritized asbestos as one of ten chemicals to be regulated. This move was anticipated as an action that would finally ban asbestos in the United States. With a new administration and a new head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), passage of a total ban is still unknown.

How to comment on an asbestos ban

If you want to make your voice heard in the quest for a ban, the phone number for the office of Scott Pruitt is 202-564-4700. Leave a respectful and short message about why you believe a ban is necessary.

Asbestos Awareness and Prevention Conference 2016

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Today ends Asbestos Awareness Week and begins the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization’s (ADAO) 12th Annual International Conference. This year’s theme is “Where Knowledge and Action Unite” and will be held in Washington D.C.

This conference brings over 300 experts, victims, unions, and lawmakers from throughout the world. It’s an opportunity to hear renowned speakers, discuss, and learn more about joint interests and efforts to create more awareness of the disease and the push for prevention through education and advocacy.

ADAO is the only U.S. nonprofit that organizes annual conferences specifically for the prevention and elimination of asbestos-related diseases. Topics discussed will include:

  • Progress and Challenges from the Frontline
  • Medical Advancements: Diagnosing and Treating Mesothelioma and Other Asbestos-Related Diseases
  • Prevention: What Is It? Where Is It? What Do I Do?
  • Advocacy: Global Ban Asbestos Action

The goal of ADAO is a world without asbestos and without asbestos-related diseases. You can join in and learn more by signing up for their eNewsletter and following them on Facebook.

The Rotterdam Convention and Asbestos

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Rotterdam_Convention_SecretariatMay 2013 concluded the sixth meeting of the Rotterdam Conference. This conference discusses and votes on changes to the Rotterdam Convention, a multinational treaty promoting shared responsibilities between countries in relation to importation of hazardous materials.  This group determines what materials and chemicals are added to a Prior Informed Consent (PIC) procedure.

What is the PIC?

This procedure requires that materials considered dangerous must be clearly labeled as being hazardous in order to help protect workers and those who would otherwise be exposed.

Currently this procedure covers five types of asbestos: Actinolite, Anthophyllite, Amosite, Crocidolite, and Tremolite.  A proposal to include the mineral chrysotile asbestos to this list was defeated at the 2013 conference.  Of 143 countries attending the conference, seven countries: India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe, opposed the listing of chrysotile asbestos as a hazardous material which lead to the defeat.

While the World Health Organization and other authorities like the United State’s EPA state that, based upon multiple lines of scientific evidence, all forms of asbestos are harmful to human health, these 7 countries continue to claim that chrysotile asbestos is safe, or that it is safe when handled correctly.

The following quote reveals the source of the defeat, “Chrysotile asbestos is recognized by every leading world scientific body as a cause of asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma, as have all other forms of commercially used asbestos that are currently listed on the PIC List,” said Richard Lemen, Ph.D., MSPH, Assistant Surgeon General (ret.), Rear Admiral, USPHS (ret.); Adjunct Professor, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University.  “But because chrysotile asbestos remains the only type of asbestos commercially exploited, those countries having a financial stake in its continued use have placed profit and greed over the protection of the public’s health, in order to promote this carcinogenic product.  Today, a few countries have again blocked chrysotile’s listing on the PIC by claiming it is not hazardous and can be used safely.  It is a farce for them to suggest continued ‘controlled use’ since by blocking its listing, the consumer is never informed of chrysotile’s hazardous nature. Thus, the pandemic of asbestos-induced diseases that the world is currently experiencing will continue to grow as thousands more uninformed users of this cancerous material will face disease and death in their future.  The action of these few countries represents a callous disregard for human dignity and life.”

The fight continues.

Linda Reinstein, Co-Founder and President of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) promised, “Asbestos victims around the world will not be silenced by thugs and criminals profiting from the deadly toxic trade. Instead, we will turn our grief, pain, and anger into action as we continue global educational and advocacy initiatives to collaboratively ensure chrysotile asbestos will be added to the PIC List at the 2015 Rotterdam Convention.”