A Russian company sells asbestos with President Trump's face on the packaging

A Russian asbestos company that operates a giant mine in the Ural Mountains markets its products with the image of President Trump, according to photos posted on social media, citing Scott Pruitt, former director of the EPA. Trump's unflinching support for the carcinogen.

The Uralasbest company posted on its Facebook page in June photos of palettes adorned with a seal in Trump's face.

"Approved by Donald Trump, 45th President of the United States," According to a translation provided by the Task Force on the Environment, a non-profit organization focused on human health and the environment which signaled the detachment.

Asbestos, a fibrous silicate widely used for industrial and commercial purposes as construction in the United States, has fallen out of favor in many applications after a great deal of scientific evidence linking the exposure to serious health problems, but its use is restricted to the United States, although it has never been outright banned, as it has been in at least 60 other countries.

But Trump has long expressed his skepticism about its potential effects on health after its application.In his 1997 book, "The Art of Return," he writes that he believed that anti-asbestos efforts were "carried out by the crowd In 2012, he tweeted that the World Trade Center would not have burned had asbestos, which is known for fireproof properties, was not removed from towers.

The asbestos company has focused on this supportive position in a post accompanying the images.

"Donald is on our side!" the company posted a legend for the photos, which also quoted Pruitt

The use of asbestos in the United States has significantly decreased in recent decades, health effects such as mesothelioma and lung cancer in the home. Because it is no longer operated in the United States, asbestos is imported for its remaining uses, primarily for the chlorine and soda industry. Until recently, 95% of asbestos in the United States was imported from Brazil and the rest of Russia, according to Chemical & Engineering News, but a recent ban on the extraction, the 39, use and sale of asbestos in Brazil has left market. Some lawmakers have expressed concerns about Russia being the only supplier of asbestos in the US, reported Chemical & Engineering News.

Maybe some companies are aware of these opportunities. Uralasbestos, which counts as an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, operates a huge mine in Asbest, seven kilometers long, one and a half miles wide and about 1,000 feet deep for an area that is near the half that of Manhattan. Center for Public Integrity. The company did not return a request to comment immediately.

[Pruitt is out at EPA, but ethics probes might live on]

Asbest, named for its main product, was once known as "the dying city" because of high rates of lung cancer and other diseases, the center reported. A 2013 New York Times report paints a grim picture of life in the mining town:

"Residents describe diapers that accumulate on the living room floors. Before taking linen from the backyard lines, they shake asbestos first. "When I work in the garden, I notice asbestos dust on my raspberries," says Tamara A. Biserova, a retired woman. "As long as I do not leave tomorrow morning, I have to sweep everything away." Asbestos is one of the most extreme examples of environmental costs of Russia's deep dependence on mining. 19659015] The World Health Organization notes that "all types of asbestos cause lung cancer, mesothelioma, laryngeal and ovarian cancer, and asbestosis" , stating that exposure results from the inhalation of airborne fibers in work environments. in buildings that contain decomposing asbestos materials. The group says that one of the most effective ways "to eliminate asbestos-related diseases is to stop the use of all types of asbestos."

The chrysotile chrysotile trade group (chrysotile is what is mined in Asbest) says its the product is less carcinogenic than other types of asbestos.

"The classification of the World Health Organization establishes the danger of a substance rather than risk," she writes on her website. "Nearly four hundred other products and industrial processes are considered carcinogenic to humans, probably or potentially carcinogenic to humans, but that does not mean we have to ban their use, which means we need of a strict control over their use. "

Yet, the Environmental Protection Agency has failed to implement a complete ban on asbestos for years. In 2016, Congress amended the Toxic Substances Control Act, giving the EPA a mandate to evaluate chemicals used throughout the country and arousing hope among some advocates that the agency would go from the front with a complete ban on asbestos. These hopes have yet to be confirmed at the time of Trump, in which the EPA took a sharp turn towards deregulation.

"Asbestos was the reason the original law was broken and was not working, so now asbestos," said Melanie Benesh, a lawyer with the Environmental Working Group, to the Washington Post. "This administration is really responsible for setting the rules and setting a precedent for some of the ways in which this new law would be implemented. As far as we know, they are taking all possible steps to minimize this law and to limit this law and not to implement it as intended.

Asbestos producers and associations in Russia have actively mobilized against the product worldwide, the Center for Public Integrity reported. Andrei Kholzakov, the president of the Uralasbest union, reportedly asked for Putin's help.

"He promised to support Russian producers of chrysotile," Kholzakov said in a statement issued by the Center for Public Integrity. From 2005: EPA will test a new way of removing asbestos

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