I’m a bit surprised USA didn’t ban it earlier. But then I looked at our own history, and although Asbestos was banned from some uses like clothing already in 1972, it was only gradually banned from other uses through 20 years where the ban became complete in 1993. So although USA is late to the party, it did take a long time here too.
I remember there was a huge outrage here about asbestos back in the 70’s, and I thought the ban was complete already back then.
But there is a huge difference in how dangerous it is, in some building materials it’s apparently relatively safe, that is until it has to be replaced, that’s the dangerous part, where you should be very careful and not do it without careful research on how to do it safely first, maybe preferably hire professionals.
I remember many years where car brakes whined because asbestos was banned. I wonder how much of that crap was in the air in our cities before that.