Asbestos Information Association: The Birth of a Front Group

It sounds innocuous, neutral, and legitimate enough to the undiscerning eye: Asbestos Information Association (AIA). But it was in fact a front group founded by the asbestos industry in the late-20th century to push back against impending regulation, especially at the federal level from the EPA.

These documents are membership solicitations from the AIA to asbestos manufacturers. One of them outlines the new regulatory climate that asbestos will face, pointing to labor unions and the EPA in particular as new forces:

One excerpt: "The AFL/CIO has thrown its considerable weight behind an effort to impose very strict emergency occupational standards on asbestos mining and manufacturing. This move is being fought on an individual basis by member companies of the AIA/NA."

Elsewhere, it's revealed where AIA received its seed funding: Johns-Manville, one of the largest asbestos manufacturers in the world.