Giving Compass' Take:

• Aileen Kwun explains how Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency has eased restrictions on the use of asbestos-containing materials, which pose a threat to public health. 

• How can funders help mitigate the damage of asbestos? What are the barriers to outright banning asbestos? 

• Find out how Trump's EPA has revamped rules for air quality. 

Asbestos, a dangerous carcinogen outlawed in more than 55 countries, could make a comeback in the United States, under Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA has even made it easier for companies to introduce new uses of asbestos-containing products in America—many of which could end up in common products in your home, as well as the materials used to build it.

While products derived from asbestos may not hold a direct threat to consumers, the environmental advocacy group Healthy Building Network tells Fast Company the health risks are significant for workers who mine the toxic material, as well as those who handle it in industrial facilities that import it. Surrounding neighborhoods where asbestos fibers may be released into the air, as well as those in proximity to the landfills where they may ultimately end up, are also affected. People in the building community, who are exposed to the fibrous material while renovating and constructing our homes, schools, and offices, also remain at risk.

Asbestos exposure is irrefutably linked to illnesses including lung cancer and mesothelioma. While the U.S. has restricted use of the material over the years—most notably with the EPA’s 1973 Clean Air Act and 1989 Asbestos Ban and Phase Out Rule—it remains one of the only developed nations that has still not banned it outright, in a clear ongoing tussle between corporate and public interest. New data released this year shows asbestos-related deaths in the U.S. total nearly 40,000 annually, more than double previous estimates of 15,000.

Read the full article about asbestos by Aileen Kwun at FastCompany.