I 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3339 
To amend the Toxic Substances Control Act to reduce the health risks 
posed by asbestos-containing products, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
AUGUST 2, 2007 
Ms. MCCOLLUM of Minnesota (for herself, Mr. PETERSON of Minnesota, Mr. 
RAMSTAD, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. CLY-
BURN, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Ms. MATSUI, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. RAHALL, 
Ms. WATERS, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. KANJORSKI, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. 
DEFAZIO, Mr. FARR, Mr. SKELTON, Ms. HOOLEY, Mr. ELLISON, Mr. 
WALZ of Minnesota, Mr. INSLEE, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. FRANK of Massachu-
setts, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. COHEN, Mr. HINCHEY, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. NAD-
LER, Mrs. JONES of Ohio, Mr. TIERNEY, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Ms. 
LEE, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. BRALEY of Iowa, and Ms. LINDA T. 
SA´NCHEZ of California) introduced the following bill; which was referred 
to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend the Toxic Substances Control Act to reduce the 
health risks posed by asbestos-containing products, and 
for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Bruce Vento Ban As-
bestos and Prevent Mesothelioma Act of 2007’’. 
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds that— 
(1) Bruce Vento was a teacher, a state legis-
lator and a Member of Congress representing Min-
nesota’s Fourth District from 1977 to 2000 who 
dedicated his career to promoting worker’s rights 
and a clean, healthy environment; 
(2) Congressman Vento died on October 10, 
2000, from pleural mesothelioma, likely contracted 
from minimal contact with asbestos while working in 
factories as a young man; 
(3)(A) the Administrator of the Environmental 
Protection Agency has classified asbestos as a cat-
egory A human carcinogen, the highest cancer haz-
ard classification for a substance; and 
(B) the International Agency for Research on 
Cancer has classified asbestos as a class 1 human 
carcinogen; 
(4) many people in the United States incor-
rectly believe that— 
(A) asbestos has been banned in the 
United States; and 
(B) there is no risk of exposure to asbestos 
through the use of new commercial products; 
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(5) the United States Geological Survey re-
ported that, in 2006, the United States used 2,000 
metric tons of asbestos, of which approximately— 
(A) 55 percent was used in roofing prod-
ucts; 
(B) 26 percent was used in coatings; and 
(C) 19 percent was used in other products, 
such as friction products; 
(6) the Department of Commerce estimates 
that 
the 
United 
States 
imports 
more 
than 
$100,000,000 of brake parts per year; 
(7) available evidence suggests that— 
(A) imports of some types of asbestos-con-
taining products are increasing; and 
(B) some of those products are imported 
from foreign countries in which asbestos is 
poorly regulated; 
(8) there is no known safe level of exposure to 
asbestos; 
(9) even low levels of exposure to asbestos may 
cause asbestos-related diseases, including mesothe-
lioma; 
(10) millions of workers in the United States 
have been, and continue to be, exposed to dangerous 
levels of asbestos; 
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(11) worker deaths from noncancerous lung dis-
ease can occur at levels of exposure to asbestos 
below the levels allowed by the Occupational Safety 
and Health Administration as of the date of enact-
ment of this Act; 
(12) the University of Minnesota, along with 
health care providers, Minnesota State legislators, 
and community partners, has initiated the Min-
nesota Taconite Workers Lung Health Partnership, 
to provide a greater understanding of taconite work-
ers health issues, study the causes of the increase in 
deaths to mesothelioma among taconite mine work-
ers, and provide recommendations to limit risk to 
workers and their families; 
(13) families of workers are put at risk because 
of asbestos brought home by the workers on the 
shoes, clothes, skin, and hair of the workers; 
(14) approximately 1⁄3 of mesothelioma victims 
were exposed to asbestos while serving the United 
States on Navy ships or shipyards; 
(15) the National Institutes of Health reported 
to Congress in 2006 that mesothelioma is a difficult 
disease to detect, diagnose, and treat; 
(16) the Environmental Working Group esti-
mates that as many as 10,000 citizens of the United 
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States die each year from mesothelioma and other 
asbestos-related diseases; 
(17)(A) mesothelioma responds poorly to con-
ventional chemotherapy; and 
(B) although new combination treatments for 
mesothelioma have demonstrated some benefits— 
(i) the median survival period for mesothe-
lioma is only 1 year after diagnosis of the dis-
ease; and 
(ii) the majority of mesothelioma patients 
die within 2 years of diagnosis of the disease; 
(18) in hearings before Congress in the early 
1970s, the example of asbestos was used to justify 
the need for comprehensive legislation on toxic sub-
stances; 
(19) in 1976, Congress passed the Toxic Sub-
stances Control Act (15 U.S.C. 2601 et seq.); 
(20) in 1989, the Administrator of the Environ-
mental Protection Agency promulgated final regula-
tions under title II of the Toxic Substances Control 
Act (15 U.S.C. 2641 et seq.) to phase out asbestos 
in consumer products by 1997; 
(21) in 1991, the United States Court of Ap-
peals for the 5th Circuit overturned portions of the 
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