ADAO urges Congress to ban asbestos on Mesothelioma Awareness Day

The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization is pressing Congress to pass the bipartisan ARBAN Act of 2026 as Mesothelioma Awareness Day falls on Sept. 26. The push comes as ADAO says asbestos-caused diseases kill more than 40,000 Americans a year and mesothelioma remains almost entirely preventable.

Why it matters: - Mesothelioma and other asbestos-caused diseases still kill more than 40,000 Americans each year. - ADAO says a federal asbestos ban would prevent future exposure and the deaths that follow. - The group is using Mesothelioma Awareness Day to push lawmakers toward a permanent ban.

What happened: - The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization called on Congress to quickly pass the bipartisan Alan Reinstein Ban Asbestos Now Act of 2026. - Mesothelioma Awareness Day falls on Friday, Sept. 26. - Linda Reinstein, ADAO president and co-founder, said every 13 minutes someone in the United States dies from an asbestos-caused disease such as mesothelioma. - Reinstein said prevention remains the only cure and urged Congress to protect public health now.

The details: - The ARBAN Act of 2026 is filed as S. 5235 and H.R. 5373. - The bill would prohibit the manufacture, processing, use and distribution in commerce of all commercial asbestos and asbestos-containing products, with defined transition periods. - The bill would cover all six historically regulated asbestos fibers, plus winchite and richterite, which ADAO says are carcinogenic. - The proposal would set enforceable federal transition requirements for the chlor-alkali and sheet-gasket industries. - ADAO says the bill would close gaps left by EPA's 2024 chrysotile asbestos rule and create durable protections that are less vulnerable to administrative or court challenges. - Nearly 70 nations have already banned asbestos. - The United States remains one of the few industrialized countries that has not. - ADAO says the last U.S. asbestos mine closed in 2002, but asbestos is still legal to import and use in some ways. - ADAO said more than 3,000 Americans die from mesothelioma each year, or about 8% of all asbestos-related deaths in the U.S. - ADAO said mesothelioma is a cancer of the thin membranes lining body cavities, most often the pleura around the lungs. - ADAO said the disease can also develop in the peritoneum, pericardium and tunica vaginalis. - ADAO said nearly all mesothelioma cases are caused by asbestos exposure and no other significant known cause has been identified. - ADAO said disturbing asbestos-containing materials can release microscopic fibers that harm workers, families and communities. - ADAO said legacy asbestos remains hidden in homes, schools and workplaces nationwide. - ADAO said there is no safe level of asbestos exposure. - ADAO said even brief or low-level contact can lead to mesothelioma decades later. - ADAO said the latency period is typically 10 to 50 years between exposure and diagnosis. - ADAO said symptoms often include chest pain, shortness of breath, abdominal swelling and unexplained weight loss. - ADAO said those symptoms are often mistaken for less serious conditions, which can delay diagnosis. - ADAO said mesothelioma has no cure.

Between the lines: - The asbestos debate is no longer about identifying a hazard; it is about whether Congress will finish a ban that advocates say has been delayed for years. - ADAO is tying the policy push to both current disease burden and the long tail of exposure from the 1970s and 1980s. - Reinstein also cited newly released New York City records tied to 9/11-era air quality as another example of how toxic exposure can surface decades later. - Reinstein said New York has lost more people to illness from toxic debris exposure than were killed on Sept. 11 itself, and that some residents are only now connecting their illnesses to those exposures.

What's next: - ADAO wants Congress to mark Mesothelioma Awareness Day by advancing ARBAN. - The group is urging Americans to learn about mesothelioma and how to avoid asbestos exposure. - ADAO is directing the public to learn more at asbestosdiseaseawareness.org.

The bottom line: - ADAO is framing asbestos as a preventable public health crisis and asking Congress to turn that argument into a nationwide ban.