Tuesday's Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported that the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) has spent over $165,000 to have government-certified laboratories examine hundreds of consumer products over an 18 month period to determine whether they contain asbestos. The ADAO is a national asbestos victim's organization created in 2004 by asbestos victims and their families, dedicated to raising awareness and educating the public about the dangers of asbestos.

The results of the tests were shocking. According to the ADAO, asbestos was found by at least two of the three labs to be in many consumer products and children's toys, including the CSI Fingerprint Examination Kit, two brands of children's play clay, powdered cleanser, roof sealers, duct tapes, window glazing, spackling paste and small appliances. The fingerprint kit appears to be of the greatest concern. The kit, made in China, is one of several items licensed by CBS after the popular "CSI" television crime series. The kit contains several plastic tools, inks and three types of powders. The lab found the white and the glow powder to contain high levels of two types of asbestos. This can pose a serious risk to children who may breathe in asbestos fibers as they use the kit to dust for fingerprints. While the manufacturer and distributer insist that the kit has been tested and meets all safety standard requirments, it concedes that toy safety agencies do not require asbestos testing. However, in light of the ADAO's finding, CBS Consumer Products has asked its licensee to immediately conduct independing asbestos testing of the product in the U.S. and if the product is determined to be unsafe, CBS has stated it will insist that it be removed from the market.

Some of the products tested for the ADAO contained less than 1% asbestos, which would not be prohibited under the partial asbestos ban recently passed by the Senate. (See Supporters Claim Watered Down Asbestos Bill, posted 11/6/07). But other products, including the CSI fingerprint kit, exceeded that level, coming in at 5% asbestos. The highest level of asbestos (30%) was found to be contained in a roof sealer. According to Dr. Arthur Frank, co-chairman of the ADAO's science advisory board, any amount of asbestos, even 1%, is harmful. Dr. Michael Harbut, an international authority on asbestos-related diseases called the 1% exemption a government-provided "get out of jail free card" for companies profitting from the "asbestos-related deaths of Americans who wrongly believed these types of products are safe."

According to the ADAO, the laboratories also found asbestos in six colors of clay contained in the Art Skills' Clay bucket, Ja-Ru Toy Clay, Scotch High Performance Duct Tape and its All Weather Duct Tape, DAP Crack Shot Spackling Past and Dap's 33 Window Glazing, Gardner Leak Stopper, as well as in hair rollers, hot plates and other small appliances. Several of the manufacturers, including 3M and DAP have responded to the ADAO's findings, and maintain that there is no asbestos contained in their products.

Click here to learn more. For the ADAO press release, click here.