June 20, 2025

Friday, June 20, 2025. Annette’s Roundup for Democracy.

Trump is always crazy.

Trump is always corrupt.

Did you hear that …

E.P.A. Plans to Reconsider a Ban on Cancer-Causing Asbestos.

The Trump administration’s move sets back a decades-long effort to end the use of the material, which is widely banned in other countries.

The Trump administration plans to reconsider a ban on the last type of asbestos still used in the United States, according to a court filing on Monday.

The move, which could halt enforcement of the ban for several years during the reconsideration, is a major blow to a decades-long battle by health advocates to prohibit the carcinogenic mineral in all its forms.

Known as “white” asbestos, chrysotile asbestos is banned in more than 50 countries for its link to lung cancer and mesothelioma, a cancer that forms in the lining of internal organs. White asbestos, however, has been imported for use in the United States for roofing materials, textiles and cement as well as gaskets, clutches, brake pads and other automotive parts. It is also used in chlorine manufacturing.

Last year the Environmental Protection Agency, under President Joseph R. Biden, adopted a ban on the use, manufacture and import of chrysotile asbestos. It was the first legal constraint on a deadly substance since 2016, when Congress updated and strengthened the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act by requiring testing and regulation of thousands of chemicals used in everyday products.

The measure would have still allowed some manufacturers up to 12 years to phase out its use, a provision that followed lobbying efforts by trade groups like the American Chemistry Council.

Now, the Trump administration plans to delay the ban and reconsider the rule. That process is expected to take about 30 months, the E.P.A. said in a filing with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which has been reviewing an industry challenge to the rule.

The delay would “move the nation backward, once again putting lives at risk,” said Linda Reinstein, president and co-founder of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization, an advocacy nonprofit. The group said it planned to challenge the E.P.A.’s motion to delay, and ask the Fifth Circuit to continue reviewing the 2024 rule.

According to the filing, the agency will reconsider removing the rule’s bans on the import and use of asbestos in the production of chlorine, and the installation of new asbestos-containing sheet gaskets in chemical manufacturing and other facilities. The filing was signed by Lynn Dekleva, a former official with the American Chemistry Council who also worked in the first Trump administration.

The E.P.A. said it does not comment on litigation. The American Chemistry Council said it supported the E.P.A.’s reconsideration of the asbestos rule based on the best-available science.

Asbestos, a set of six naturally occurring fibrous minerals that have the ability to resist heat, fire and electricity, is linked to an estimated 40,000 deaths annually in the United States. It was first used in construction in the 1930s and became ubiquitous as an insulator in schools, hospitals, homes and offices as well as consumer products.

In the 1960s and 1970s, researchers began to associate it with health problems, including mesothelioma, a rare and aggressive cancer that disproportionately affects firefighters exposed to asbestos through damaged buildings.

Asbestos production in the United States stopped in 2002 but the material is still imported, much of it from Brazil. The presence of asbestos in older homes added to the health risks for firefighters battling the California wildfires this year.

A bill introduced by Senator Jeff Merkley, Democrat of Oregon, in 2023, would ban imports of all asbestos. It has not been introduced in this session. Sen. Merkley said he would “continue to explore all options, including legislation, to phase out all dangerous asbestos fibers and provide stronger protections for our health.” (New York Times)

One more thing.

I asked the Ai App, Perplexity, what countries sell asbestos.

Here is the answer.

The primary countries involved in asbestos mining and export are:
• Russia: The world’s largest asbestos producer and exporter, accounting for about 75% of global production. Russia exports large quantities to India, China, Indonesia, Uzbekistan, and Thailand.
• Kazakhstan: A major producer and exporter, supplying asbestos to Russia, China, and India.
• China: Both a large producer and consumer, China also exports significant amounts of asbestos and asbestos-containing materials.
• Brazil: Historically a major exporter, Brazil officially banned asbestos in 2017, but some production and export may continue, particularly of stockpiled materials.
• India: Imports vast amounts of asbestos, mainly from Russia, and while banned from mining, it remains a major consumer and may also re-export asbestos-containing products.

If we limit the question to “white” asbestos, the answer is: “Russia is the dominant exporter, with Brazil and Kazakhstan also contributing to the global market for white asbestos.”
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I probably could have stopped at Russia for an answer.

After I wrote the posts above, Roundup consultant Linda Wharton pointed out The Guardian lifted the veil further on the Trump-Russia asbestos alliance in 2018.

Russian mining firm puts Trump's face on its asbestos products.

As US officials decide against banning product, producer Uralasbest puts Trump ‘seal of approval’ on pallets.

Trump, once a builder, has often voiced his support for asbestos. Now in 2025 his Environmental Protection Agency has decided not to ban new asbestos products outright. Photograph: Isopix/Rex/Shutterstock.

Donald Trump’s environmental policies may have caused controversy in the US but the president’s stance has managed to get him a literal stamp of approval from a Russian mining company.

Uralasbest, one of the world’s largest producers and sellers of asbestos, has taken to adorning pallets of its product with a seal of Trump’s face, along with the words “Approved by Donald Trump, 45th president of the United States”.

The move follows the US Environmental Protection Agency’s recent decision not to ban new asbestos products outright. The EPA said it would evaluate new uses of asbestos but environmental groups have criticized the agency for not going further by barring them on public health grounds.

In a Facebook post, Uralasbest published pictures of its Trump-adorned chrysotile asbestos, writing: “Donald is on our side!” The post thanks Trump for supporting Scott Pruitt, the recently departed head of the EPA, “who declared that his agency would no longer deal with matters related to side effects potentially caused by asbestos”. It adds that Trump called asbestos “100% safe after application”.

Uralasbest, which is located in the mining city of Asbest in the Ural Mountains, is reported to have close ties to Russian president Vladimir Putin, who Trump will meet for talks in Helsinki next week.

Asbest was once known as the “dying city” due to its high rate of lung cancer and other asbestos-related health problems.

“Vladimir Putin and Russia’s asbestos industry stand to prosper mightily as a result of the Trump administration’s failure to ban asbestos in the US,” said Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group.

“Helping Putin and Russian oligarchs amass fortunes by selling a product that kills thousands each year should never be the role of a US president or the EPA, but this is the Trump administration.”

Asbestos was once widely used in the US for insulation and roofing but is now classed by the federal government as a “known carcinogen” due to evidence that, when disturbed, asbestos fibers can become lodged in the lungs and cause mesothelioma, as well as cancers of the lung, larynx and ovary. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, around 2,500 Americans die from mesothelioma every year.

Trump, however, has previously voiced his support for asbestos, calling it “100% safe, once applied”, in his 1997 book The Art of the Comeback. In the same tome, Trump wrote: “I believe that the movement against asbestos was led by the mob, because it was often mob-related companies that would do the asbestos removal.”

In 2012, the future president tweeted that the World Trade Center “would never have burned down” after the September 11 attacks if asbestos hadn’t been removed from the building.

Certain uses of asbestos, such as in flooring felt, are banned in the US but it is still permitted in clothing and roofing. An EPA review of asbestos regulations, kicked off under the Obama administration, saw Pruitt announce in June “important, unprecedented action on asbestos”.

This action states that the EPA will evaluate new uses of asbestos using the “best available science” but does not ban the materials. The range of asbestos uses examined by the EPA has been criticized as being too narrow, as it won’t cover, for example, the millions of pounds of asbestos dumped in landfills or used to coat piping in buildings.

“By allowing asbestos to remain legal, the Trump administration would be responsible for a flood of asbestos imports from Russia and other countries into the US, as well as the wave of illnesses and deaths that will continue for years to come,” said Linda Reinstein, co-founder and president of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization.

Last year, Brazil, which was responsible for the bulk of asbestos exports to the US, joined about 60 other countries in banning the product, leaving Russia as the major source of asbestos sent to America. (The Guardian)

Isn’t it time you write and call your elector officials again?

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Remember Trump left the G7 because he had important work to do!

No, the issue wasn’t possible war with Iran.

Let the cameras roll! Touch to hear all about it!👇

With WWIII possible, here is what Trump focused on.

As the work went on for the flagpoles, Trump blurted out - Any illegal immigrants here?

Isn’t this 👇 just what America needed?

One more thing.

More housekeeping at the White House.

Your taxpayer money going up in flames - again.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been promised nearly $20.7 billion in federal contracts, grants, and assistance; about $8.7 billion has been paid out so far.

From NASA alone, SpaceX has secured around $14.6 billion in contracts, with potential value reaching $56.4 billion if all options are exercised.

What does DOGE think? What do you?

At least no one was hurt.

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Remember John Eastman, who used to be Trump’s lawyer?

Now he used to be a lawyer.

FYI, For the 2020 Election, Eastman concocted a legal theory that the vice president had the power to reject the certified electoral slates. Trump’s Vice President Mike Pence decided Eastman was wrong.

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A Kind of Roe is now the law of the land in England and Wales.

Lawmakers Vote to Decriminalize Abortions for Women in England and Wales

The landmark decision will prevent women from being criminally prosecuted for ending their pregnancies.

The amendment was proposed by Tonia Antoniazzi, a lawmaker for the governing Labour Party.

British lawmakers voted on Tuesday to prevent women from being prosecuted for having an abortion in England and Wales, a landmark decision that sets the country on a diverging path from the United States on an emotive social issue.

In effect, the vote will largely decriminalize terminating pregnancies that are later than 24 weeks, the current limit, although medical professionals who aid the process could still be prosecuted.

Britain’s Parliament, by a vote of 370 to 137, approved an amendment to a bill that would change Victorian-era laws governing abortion. The vote comes at a time of intense debate over abortion in the United States, where the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion in 2022 and threw it to the 50 states to legislate their own laws.

By contrast, surveys suggest that the vast majority of the British population — consistently around 88 percent, according to YouGov, a polling agency — say they believe that women should have the right to an abortion.

Was abortion already legal in Britain?

It’s complicated. Currently, having or providing an abortion remains a crime under the Offenses Against the Person Act of 1861 and could, theoretically, be punished with a life sentence.

But the Abortion Act of 1967 made it legal to have an abortion in England, Scotland and Wales, initially up to the first 28 weeks of pregnancy; that period was reduced to 24 weeks in 1990.

Certain conditions must be met:

Two doctors must authorize the decision.

Continuing the pregnancy would involve risk to the woman’s mental or physical health.

An abortion after 24 weeks is allowed only if:

There is a risk to the mother’s life, or of grave permanent injury to her health

There is a substantial risk of a serious fetal anomaly.

Why do some believe the law needed to change?

Campaigners for change argue that the 1861 law is outdated and that abortion should be regulated as a health care issue rather than a possible crime.

There is also concern that during the past three years, six women have been charged with ending or trying to end their pregnancy outside abortion law.

Over the past decade, the percentage of abortions performed after 20 weeks has remained extremely low — below 2 percent. Campaigners for change argue that those who take abortion pills past the cutoff point are often victims of domestic abuse, have mental health problems or are teenagers whose parents are opposed to abortions, and that they should receive health care and other services rather than face prison time.

Changes to abortion access in the United States have also had an impact. Louise McCudden, head of external affairs at MSI Reproductive Choices, an international organization that provides family planning and abortion services, said in a statement: “With the anti-rights movement feeling emboldened since the reversal of Roe v. Wade in the United States, it could not be more important that here in the U.K. elected lawmakers stand up for women and support everyone to get the medical care they need.”

How will the amendment change the law?

The amendment, which was proposed by Tonia Antoniazzi, a lawmaker for the governing Labour Party, will not repeal the existing criminal law, but aims to prevent women from being investigated, arrested, prosecuted or imprisoned for terminating their own pregnancies. Ms. Antoniazzi argues that those investigated can be victims of domestic abuse or sexual exploitation, or women who have given birth prematurely.

Another amendment that would have required a pregnant woman to have an in-person consultation before being prescribed pills to terminate a pregnancy was defeated.

Who opposes the proposed changes and who is in favor?

The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, which campaigns against abortion, has described the effort to change the law as “the greatest threat to unborn children and their mothers since the 1967 Abortion Act.” The organization says that both amendments would mean that no abortions up to birth in any circumstances would be criminalized.

Rebecca Smith, a Conservative lawmaker, told Parliament that supporters of the change “claim that the 24-week time limit for abortions would not change, but in my view this is misleading.”

She added: “Once decriminalization takes place, it is my concern that further steps will be taken to expand abortion time limits.”

But Ms. Antoniazzi’s amendment was supported by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare and the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, which said in a joint statement that decriminalization would give women in England and Wales the same protection from prosecution available to women in Northern Ireland, Ireland, France, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Ranee Thakar, president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said in a statement that abortion “should be subject to regulatory and professional standards like other medical procedures, not criminal sanctions.” (New York Times).

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One more time. A Post In honor of Juneteenth and Freedom.

What President Biden did yesterday to honor Juneteenth.

First, he flew commercial to Texas.

Then…

What the Orange Man did to honor Juneteenth- this post.👇

What you can now do, looking back at the holiday.

Enjoy 5 minutes of Billie Holiday.

Sad and painful with great beauty.

Click here to listen to Miss Billie Holiday.

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