Asbestos fibers are invisible and indestructible
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1907 First case of asbestos-related disease discussed in the medical literature

1927 The name asbestosis applied to lung scarring caused by asbestos.

1929 Workers begin suing Johns Manville for damages caused by asbestos.

1930 First epidemiology study showing asbestos causes asbestosis and set forth methods to prevent this disease indicating it is asbestos not the job that kills.

1955 Dr. Richard Doll publishes study-linking asbestos to lung cancer.

1960 Dr. J.C. Wagner publishes 33 cases of mesothelioma showing not only workers contracted the disease but also family members and residents near the mining area.

1964 Irving Selikoff describes the incidence of asbestos related disease among end product users of asbestos in his study of North American Insulation workers.

1970 Occupational Safety and Health Act passed resulting in the first workplace standard for asbestos in 1972.

1971 EPA lists asbestos as a hazardous air pollutant.

1976 The International Agency for Research on Cancer list asbestos as a human carcinogen and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health calls for a ban on asbestos in US workplaces.

1989 EPA promulgates Asbestos Ban and Phase – Out Rule which was overruled by the 5th US Federal Circuit Court of Appeals.

1998 International Programme for Chemical Safety determines there is no safe exposure for chrysotile asbestos.

2001 The collapse of the World Trade Center towers led to the release of hundreds of tons of asbestos from the towers.

2006 The World Health Organization and the International Labor Organization in a policy paper and a resolution adopted respectively agreed that: all forms of asbestos are classified as human carcinogens, no threshold for “safe” exposure exists, and the elimination of asbestos use is essential to stop the global epidemic of asbestos-related disease.

2007 The Senate unanimously passed “Ban Asbestos in America Act” however the ban language was changed from banning asbestos containing products to only banning asbestos containing materials which would also exempt materials containing less than one percent asbestos.

2007 “Bruce Vento Ban Asbestos and Prevent Mesothelioma Act of 2007” introduced by U.S. House of Representative Betty McCollum.

2008 U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Environment and Hazardous Materials introduced H.R. 6903, the “Bruce Vento Ban Asbestos and Prevent Mesothelioma Act of 2008”, banning Asbestos Containing Products (ACP).