The U.S. Environmental Protective Agency (EPA), Office of
Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention and Toxics, on March 30,
2020, has issued a "Draft Risk Evaluation for Asbestos"
for public comment and peer review. The Risk Evaluation will
potentially affect businesses involved with both current and legacy
asbestos-containing products. See https://www.epa.gov/assessing-and-managing-chemicals-under-tsca/draft-risk-evaluation-asbestos
for the "Draft risk evaluation and supporting documents,"
which can be accessed at the fourth bullet point at the end of the
first section. Comments are due 60 days after the publication of
the Federal Register Notice, which occurred on April 3, 2020.
The Draft Risk Evaluation is a document that should be carefully
reviewed, particularly by those entities that are current or
potential defendants in asbestos friction litigation, to ascertain
the extent to which the Agency's potential final conclusions
could influence the approach to their
