Protect Missouri Workers

06/03/2026

On June 1, the Fifth Circuit heard arguments over the EPA's 2024 rule restricting chrysotile asbestos, the only form still being imported into the United States.

This is the same court that overturned the EPA's 1989 asbestos ban, a decision that allowed asbestos use to continue for 35 more years. Industry groups are still pushing to block the rule even after two major petitioners withdrew their challenges this month.

The outcome will determine whether the U.S. finally moves toward meaningful asbestos protections or repeats decades of regulatory failure.

🔗 https://www.asbestosdiseaseawareness.org/newsroom/blogs/release-5th-circuit-arguments/

05/31/2026

The EPA announced this month that it is moving forward with peer review and public comment on risk evaluations for four industrial chemicals, including phthalic anhydride, which is used in paints, coatings, adhesives, and plastics and has been found to pose unreasonable risk to workers through skin and inhalation exposure.

The agency says it will move quickly to propose risk management actions once the review is finalized.

🔗 https://www.epa.gov/chemicals-under-tsca/epa-takes-next-step-tsca-review-four-chemicals-better-protect-workers-families

05/30/2026

The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration has postponed its silica dust protection rule for metal and nonmetal mine workers indefinitely, citing ongoing litigation.
The rule would have cut permissible silica exposure limits in half for miners who cut through silica-rich stone and are at elevated risk for black lung and silicosis. Coal mine enforcement has also been paused with no restart date in sight.

The latest postponement affects workers mining metal, nonmetal, stone, sand and gravel.

05/28/2026

OSHA and NIOSH released an updated joint hazard alert this month warning that workers who manufacture, finish, and install engineered stone countertops face serious silica dust exposure that can cause silicosis, an incurable and often fatal lung disease.

The updated alert includes data on crystalline silica content by product type, including engineered stone and quartzite, and details employer requirements for worker exposure assessments.

Respirable crystalline silica exposure can lead to incurable (and often fatal) lung damage.

05/26/2026

A new study published in JCO Precision Oncology found that mesothelioma is increasingly being diagnosed in people under 50, including a disproportionate number of women and patients who reported no known asbestos exposure.
Researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering note that secondary exposure, where a family member brought asbestos fibers home on work clothes from construction or manufacturing jobs, is a significant pathway that often goes unrecognized.

Mesothelioma, a rare cancer that usually starts in the lining around the lungs, has long been thought of as a condition that affects older men—especially those who may have been exposed to asbestos while working in manufacturing or construction. About 3,300 people are diagnosed with mesothelioma e...

05/22/2026

A new report finds that 32% of young workers have already encountered asbestos on the job, and 88% of them admitted to cutting into suspect materials without knowing what was in them.

Only 15% said they trust their employer to protect them from environmental hazards on the worksite. Federal law requires building owners and contractors to conduct a good-faith inspection for asbestos before any construction, renovation, or demolition project, but compliance and enforcement vary widely.

New data reveals a lack of safety awareness and low employer trust among employees entering the trades.

05/20/2026

Congressional proposals from both chambers are being pushed by chemical industry lobbyists to weaken the Toxic Substances Control Act, the law that currently gives EPA the authority to evaluate chemicals for real-world risks to workers before and after they enter the market.
If passed, chemicals that pose serious cancer and respiratory risks could stay in workplaces with minimal accountability. Workers in manufacturing, chemical plants, and adjacent communities would bear the health costs of weakened oversight.

The Toxic Substances Control Act keeps workers safe

04/29/2026

A Florida petroleum contractor was cited with 12 serious OSHA violations after a worker died from exposure to benzene and toluene inside a fuel storage tank. The company had no written confined space entry program, no atmospheric evaluation before entry, and no respiratory protection plan for workers. This is exactly the kind of preventable death that stronger enforcement is meant to stop.

Federal investigators issued 12 serious violations to a petroleum tank services contractor after a worker died from toxic chemical exposure inside a fuel storage tank at a Lake Worth jobsite.

04/23/2026

A growing body of research, now covering at least 30 studies, suggests that the timing of immunotherapy infusions may significantly affect survival outcomes. Mesothelioma patients already face a brutal prognosis. Any development that could improve results for those living with this asbestos-caused cancer matters.

New research says time of day may make a big difference for cancer immunotherapy. Can morning appointments double survival time? Find out today.

04/21/2026

Black lung disease was supposed to be a problem of the past. Instead, mortality is rising, younger miners are getting sicker faster, and a silica dust rule meant to address it is tied up in industry litigation. As one researcher put it: the cost of inaction is measured in oxygen tanks, lung transplants, and preventable deaths.

CDC experts David N. Weissman, MD, FCCP, and Jacek Mazurek, MD, PhD, said that identifying dust exposure is key to improving outcomes for patients with coal workers’ pneumoconiosis.