The U.S. banned asbestos, but its health impact will still be felt for decades ( www.statnews.com )

A new rule announced by the Environmental Protection Agency this week puts an end to the use of asbestos, a known carcinogen, in the United States. But researchers caution that we’ll likely still be dealing with the mineral’s public health harms for decades.

The recently announced ban covers all forms of asbestos, including chrysotile asbestos, the only form still in use in the U.S., where it can be found in brake linings and is used to manufacture caustic soda (drain pipe cleaner) and chlorine bleach. The use of asbestos has continued for decades despite evidence that the mineral can cause several types of cancers, including mesothelioma, leading to thousands of deaths in the U.S. each year. Its use had already been banned in 55 countries, including all European Union member states. But a 1989 asbestos ban in the U.S. was all but reversed in 1991 by a court ruling, leaving in place regulations that varied by state.

The comprehensive EPA ban “is a very important and welcome step. I think it’s going to have a bigger impact on human health in the future,” said Ian Blair, a professor of pharmacology at the University of Pennsylvania who researches biomarkers of asbestos exposure.

Still, it will likely take decades to see the effects of the ban. That’s in large part due to the long latency period of mesothelioma; people exposed to asbestos today may not develop disease until up to 40 years later.