WASHINGTON – The House passed legislation this evening that would delay or deny compensation for asbestos victims and place them at greater risk of identity theft, said the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization and EWG Action Fund in a joint statement.

The Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency Act, part of H.R. 985, would deplete the resources of already-dwindling trust funds set aside to compensate asbestos victims. Adding insult to injury, the measure would also require online disclosure of victims’ personal information, such as medical conditions and partial Social Security numbers, placing victims at heightened risk of falling prey to cyber crime.

“The House wasted no time in its campaign against those sick and dying from asbestos-triggered diseases,” said Alex Formuzis, vice president for strategic campaigns at EWG Action Fund. “By approving the so-called FACT Act, the House has advanced the efforts of the asbestos and insurance industries to slow down, if not stop, having to compensate the very people they knowingly poisoned. And, in a cynical display of ‘kick them while they’re down,’ the legislation opens victims up to increased risk of identity theft. All in a days’ work for these members of Congress who voted for the measure.”

“Corporations that exposed Americans to a known carcinogen should be held accountable. It is reprehensible that the House has passed legislation that will let asbestos corporations off the hook, create significant privacy risks for victims, and delay compensation and justice,” said Linda Reinstein, co-founder and CEO of the ADAO. “Unlike in the last Congress – when President Obama threatened to veto the bill should it land on his desk – the deck is now heavily stacked against asbestos victims and their families with Donald Trump in the Oval Office, who famously called asbestos ‘one hundred percent safe.’ ADAO will do everything we can to better educate and inform members of the Senate and their staffs so they understand, without a doubt, how this bill would further harm victims of asbestos diseases.”

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 EWG Action Fund is a 501(c)(4) organization that is a separate sister organization of the Environmental Working Group. The mission of EWG Action Fund is to protect health and the environment by educating the public and lobbying on a wide range of environmental issues. Donations to EWG Action Fund are not tax-deductible.