EPA to Require Reporting of Asbestos Use, Exposure Information

A final rule announced last week by EPA requires manufacturers, importers, and processors of asbestos to report use and exposure information from the past four years. Those with annual sales above $500,000 in any of the calendar years between 2019 and 2022 are required to electronically report exposure-related information such as the quantities of asbestos manufactured or processed, types of uses, and employee data. The rule also applies to asbestos-containing products, including those that contain the substance as an impurity, as well as situations in which asbestos is a component of a mixture. EPA issued this rule under section 8(a) of the Toxic Substances Control Act, which authorizes the agency to collect information about chemical uses, production volumes, disposal, exposures, and hazards.

The data collected through the new rule is intended to inform EPA’s future actions regarding asbestos, including its ongoing risk evaluation of legacy uses of asbestos and associated disposals, other types of asbestos fibers in addition to chrysotile, and conditions of use of asbestos in talc and talc-containing products. EPA says that data reported on asbestos as an impurity could better inform its risk evaluation of the use of asbestos in talc, for example.

The rule will take effect 30 days after it is published in the Federal Register. Entities affected by the rule will have up to nine months following the rule’s effective date to collect and submit all required data to EPA.

A prepublication copy of the new final rule is available from EPA’s website (PDF). Further details can be found on an agency webpage on reporting and recordkeeping requirements for asbestos.