The United States has announced a ban on the only form of asbestos currently used or imported into the country. The decision by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) comes decades after most developed countries began phasing out the carcinogenic raw material.

Asbestos is a carcinogen and is linked to about 40,000 deaths in the United States each year from lung cancer, mesothelioma, and other cancers.

Although the carcinogen's use has been phased out over the years, it remains a building material in millions of homes and buildings across the United States.

The carcinogen has already been banned in more than 50 countries. Linda Reinstein, who has been against asbestos for the past 20 years after her husband died from repeated exposure to the substance, notes that the United Kingdom enacted an asbestos ban a quarter of a century ago. For years, the US has been "a poster child for not doing the right thing" when it comes to asbestos, she told the BBC.

US bans asbestos The United States has announced a ban on the only form of asbestos currently used or imported into the country. The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) decision comes decades after most developed countries began phasing out the cancer-causing material.

Iouri B.