For Immediate Release: September 25, 2015

Washington, D.C. – Behind the shocking news that thousands of Oregon homes were demolished without safe removal of asbestos lies a sobering statistic: the state’s death rate from asbestos-related disease is more than one-third higher than the national average.

 A report by the EWG Action Fund shows more than 3,700 people in Oregon have died from asbestos-related disease between 1999 and 2013. The annual death rate in Oregon from asbestos is at 6.7 per 100,000 people, compared to the national average of 4.9.

 EWG Action Fund arrived at its estimate by combining federal records on deaths from two diseases caused only by asbestos with a projected number of lung cancer deaths from asbestos, derived through a method developed by international asbestos experts.

An investigation published today by The Oregonian/OregonLive found that lax oversight by state environmental officials and influence by construction industry lobbyists has allowed contractors to tear down hundreds of homes in Portland without first properly removing asbestos inside. In some cases demolition workers were not wearing gear to protect them from inhaling tiny airborne asbestos fibers. Statewide, the investigation said, an estimated 650 asbestos-laden homes are demolished each year, even as regulators acknowledge their failure to protect public health:

The [Department of Environmental Quality] has known for years that its rules aren’t strong enough to keep people safe during home demolitions. Yet the state backed away from imposing even modest measures to strengthen the rules in 2002 after the construction industry complained.

Although many Americans thinks asbestos was banned decades ago, it is still legal – and still lethal.

“Inhaling even the smallest amounts of asbestos can cause serious and fatal diseases that may not show up until decades after exposure,” said Alex Formuzis of EWG Action Fund. “The state’s weak regulations are responsible for the situation in Portland, as described by The Oregonian, that could have exposed an untold number of area residents, including construction workers and children, to this deadly fiber that is responsible for as many as 15,000 deaths each year.”

 The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration maintains that there is no “safe” level of asbestos. Even brief exposures to the deadly fiber can cause lung cancer; mesothelioma, an incurable form of cancer caused only by asbestos; or asbestosis, an excruciatingly painful and often fatal lung disease.

Here are EWG Action Fund’s estimates for deaths from asbestos-related disease in Oregon’s largest counties from 1999 to 2013. The complete list for all counties is here.

Deaths with contributing causes of asbestosis and mesothelioma are from the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s WONDER database. Non-mesothelioma lung cancers are based upon EWG Action Fund’s research available here. The high-end range of non-mesothelioma lung cancers is reported in the data above. Learn how EWG Action Fund calculates asbestos deaths.

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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.