Asbestos Ban Kicks Off Immediately, But Grants Chlor-Alkali Industry Until 2030 to Phase Out Use

The Alan Reinstein Ban Asbestos Now Act of 2025 is a straightforward piece of legislation with a huge public health goal: to finally put a stop to commercial asbestos use in the U.S. The bill states that the manufacture, processing, use, or sale of commercial asbestos—meaning specific mined fibers like Chrysotile or Crocidolite—will be banned the moment this law takes effect. This is the big, immediate change, clarifying that asbestos is out when it comes to new products or materials regulated under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).

The Fine Print: What’s Covered and What’s Not

For most people, the ban means that new products entering the market won't contain asbestos. The bill does a good job of defining boundaries, which is important for avoiding future headaches. For instance, if you live in an older home with asbestos insulation, the bill clarifies that moving that existing, installed material for disposal doesn’t count as “distributing in commerce.” Same goes for moving old materials to a proper disposal site. This means the ban targets new commercial activity, not the complex task of dealing with historical legacy materials. If a product contains asbestos only as a “tiny, unavoidable impurity” (which the EPA will define later), that product is also exempt from the ban, which is a practical nod to manufacturing realities.

The Industrial Exception: A 2030 Deadline

While the ban is immediate for most uses, the bill carves out a significant, temporary exception for the chlor-alkali industry. These plants use asbestos diaphragms to produce chlorine and caustic soda—essential chemicals used in everything from cleaning products to pharmaceuticals. If a plant is operating when this law passes, it gets a grace period to keep using asbestos fibers to make those diaphragms until January 1, 2030. This is a classic policy trade-off: public health benefit (a ban) versus industrial necessity (a transition period). For the companies involved, this nearly five-year window means a huge capital expenditure is coming as they must switch to non-asbestos technology, but it prevents an immediate shutdown of critical chemical production.

The National Security Loophole

Here’s where things get interesting and potentially opaque. The President is given the authority to grant a one-time, three-year exemption from the ban if using commercial asbestos is deemed “absolutely necessary” for national security interests and there’s no alternative. This exemption can be extended once for another three years, totaling a maximum of six years. While terms must be included to reduce exposure, the President can choose to keep the details of the exemption secret if publishing them would harm national security. For the average citizen, this means that while the ban is in place, there could be secret, government-sanctioned uses of asbestos happening for up to six years, limiting public oversight on those specific uses. This provision shows that even comprehensive bans need flexibility when they brush up against defense and intelligence needs, though it does create a crack in the transparency shield.