car brake pads: is it still made of asbestos?
- Thread starter jamesave
- Start date
DainBramaged
Lifer
- Jun 19, 2003
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Yes, some brakepads still have asbestos. Asbestos was banned from manufacture in the USA but we still import goods that contain asbestos.
Insidious and deadly, asbestos has worked its way through the cracks of the consumer protection system for 20 years.
The result? Today, asbestos is lodged deep in the tissue of American commerce, and almost no one is paying attention.
Not consumers.
Not consumer watchdogs.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has not banned most products containing asbestos, even though health experts expect the carcinogen to claim another 250,000 lives in the United States during the next several decades.
Consumer watchdog groups Public Citizen and the Consumer Federation of America were both involved in early battles to get asbestos off the market. Now, asbestos is not even on their list of priorities.
In fact, most people who are charged with protecting consumer safety say asbestos is "no longer a problem" because of the faulty assumption that the product has long been banned and that all manufacturers have stopped using it.
But it isn't banned.
The CPSC abandoned its attempts to ban asbestos products in 1979, passing the responsibility to the EPA. In 1989, the EPA attempted a ban of its own, but in 1991, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned it.
Today, it is legal to sell asbestos products ranging from brake pads to ceiling tiles in the United States. Imports of asbestos-containing products are on the rise.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/uncivilaction/cons14.shtml
The article is 5 years old but not much has changed since then regarding asbestos.
The result? Today, asbestos is lodged deep in the tissue of American commerce, and almost no one is paying attention.
Not consumers.
Not consumer watchdogs.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has not banned most products containing asbestos, even though health experts expect the carcinogen to claim another 250,000 lives in the United States during the next several decades.
Consumer watchdog groups Public Citizen and the Consumer Federation of America were both involved in early battles to get asbestos off the market. Now, asbestos is not even on their list of priorities.
In fact, most people who are charged with protecting consumer safety say asbestos is "no longer a problem" because of the faulty assumption that the product has long been banned and that all manufacturers have stopped using it.
But it isn't banned.
The CPSC abandoned its attempts to ban asbestos products in 1979, passing the responsibility to the EPA. In 1989, the EPA attempted a ban of its own, but in 1991, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned it.
Today, it is legal to sell asbestos products ranging from brake pads to ceiling tiles in the United States. Imports of asbestos-containing products are on the rise.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/uncivilaction/cons14.shtml
The article is 5 years old but not much has changed since then regarding asbestos.
asbestos isn't really THAT serious of an issue, unless you're going around snorting the brake dust off of peoples' wheels. I'd be more worried about what toxins are on/in the food you eat.
Senator Patty Murray on Asbestos Legislation April 21, 2004,
This process has been an education for me because, like many Americans I thought asbestos had been banned a long time ago. In 1989, the EPA did try to ban asbestos, but that effort was overturned in a lawsuit from the asbestos industry. Ten years later in 1999, reporter Andrew Schneider and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer published articles about a disturbing trend in the small mining town of Libby, Montana. Residents there are suffering from extraordinarily high rates of asbestos related disease.
I learned that asbestos is still found today in over 3,000 common products in the US, including baby powder, cosmetics, brake pads, pipes, hair dryers, ceiling tiles and vinyl flooring. It is still legal in 2004 to construct buildings with asbestos cement shingles and to treat them with asbestos roof coatings. It is still legal to construct new water systems using asbestos cement pipes imported from other countries. It is still legal today for cars and trucks to be made and serviced with asbestos brake pads and linings.
This process has been an education for me because, like many Americans I thought asbestos had been banned a long time ago. In 1989, the EPA did try to ban asbestos, but that effort was overturned in a lawsuit from the asbestos industry. Ten years later in 1999, reporter Andrew Schneider and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer published articles about a disturbing trend in the small mining town of Libby, Montana. Residents there are suffering from extraordinarily high rates of asbestos related disease.
I learned that asbestos is still found today in over 3,000 common products in the US, including baby powder, cosmetics, brake pads, pipes, hair dryers, ceiling tiles and vinyl flooring. It is still legal in 2004 to construct buildings with asbestos cement shingles and to treat them with asbestos roof coatings. It is still legal to construct new water systems using asbestos cement pipes imported from other countries. It is still legal today for cars and trucks to be made and serviced with asbestos brake pads and linings.
It is serious when you consider the amount of renovation work being done on our older buildings. Also imagine how much asbestos will be in the air repairing all the hurricane damaged buildings.
But none of those really pose a hazard since asbestos is only a problem when dust is inhaled in relatively large amounts/over a long period of time. Baby powder though? Weird...
Generally no. Are there some 3rd world brake pads out there not used in the USA...sure. Will you get them at your local auto parts store...no.
Regardless, even if you did, it would be almost impossible to do any harm to yourself from them.
miri...alarmist much?
Regardless, even if you did, it would be almost impossible to do any harm to yourself from them.
miri...alarmist much?
If you do a air quality check of any area with a lot of vehicle traffic, the air quality tests will show a small amount of asbestos in the air due to brakes. But again it is a small amount and there is still no scientific study that determines how much asbestos it takes to do serious damage.
Mmmm....I think he was talking about asbestos in automobile brake shoes in which case it is not a big issue at all. Most quality shoes you buy for the autoparts store that are name brand do not have any asbestos in them anyway these days....most are metallic or semi-metallic anyway these days.
I'm calling BS. Are you saying it stays airborne? Unless I see some actual facts, I'm writing you off as an asbestos alarmist...
http://www.epa.gov/wtc/asbestos/
That website has constanly updated data from their asbestos monitoring stations. As you will see there are trace amounts of asbestos airborne.
Miri....you are aware that is monitoring the airborne asbestos around the WTC site right? That has nothing at all to do with traffic.
*shakes head*
*shakes head*
And the asbestos that is airborne is like dust so it can fall to the ground and then the slightest breeze will make that particle airborne again.
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