Murray Statement on Proposed Asbestos Trust Fund Legislation

“I am pleased that Senator Specter’s latest asbestos trust fund draft legislation includes the ban on asbestos that I first introduced in the US Senate nearly three years ago. The inclusion of my ban is an important acknowledgment of the simple fact that if Congress is going to preclude future lawsuits, we must first prevent more asbestos casualties by banning asbestos once and for all. 

“While this draft makes important progress on a ban and provides a small amount of resources for treatment and education, I remain very concerned about the impact the bill will have on the tens of thousands of workers and their families who have already been diagnosed and the millions of average Americans who are at risk of being exposed every day without even knowing it.

“I have worked to protect asbestos victims and the American public for years and I want to pass a law that will do right by victims across the country. We must find a solution to the current problem, but we cannot afford to squander this opportunity with a bill that is unbalanced in the way it treats either victims or business.

“Regardless of what happens with this legislation, we must ban the production and importation of asbestos in the US, provide the resources for treatment and new research and educate the American public about the dangers of exposure in their daily lives.”