ABSTRACT
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approached the regulation of asbestos-containing materials from two directions and with several aims, which are not always synonymous with each other. Services provided under the technical assistance program were subsequently augmented through the use of part-time technical assistants hired under an agreement with the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP). The attitude of school officials toward the AARP assistants changed from cordial to guarded, however, when the assistants were later used to enforce inspection regulations against some of the same schools they had earlier encouraged to correct problems on a voluntary basis. Consumer Product Safety Commission convened a Chronic Hazard Advisory Panel to review the carcinogenicity of asbestos and the risks attendant to exposure to it. The report was published in July 1983. About the same time, EPA decided on a regulatory approach to eliminate domestic asbestos use.
