The US has announced a ban on the only form of asbestos currently used or imported into the US, decades after most developed nations began phasing out the cancer-causing raw material.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) move comes after it failed to ban asbestos over three decades ago.
The carcinogen has already been banned by more than 50 countries.
It is linked to around 40,000 US deaths every year from lung cancer, mesothelioma and other cancers.
Use of the carcinogen has gradually declined over the years, but it still lingers as a construction material in millions of homes and buildings throughout the US.
Linda Reinstein, an anti-asbestos advocate for the last 20 years after her husband died following repeated exposure to the substance, says she broke down in tears after hearing about Monday’s ban.
The US has for many years been “the poster child for not doing the right thing” when it comes to asbestos, she told the BBC.
She noted that the UK passed a ban on asbestos a quarter of a century ago.
Mrs. Reinstein says the US ban is more limited than anti-asbestos measures passed by all other countries.
On Monday, EPA Administrator Michael Regan said the ban applied only to chrysotile asbestos, also known as “white asbestos”, the only type known to be imported for use in the US.
