Donald Trump’s environmental policies have managed to get him a stamp of approval from a Russian mining company – literally.

Uralasbest, one of the world’s largest producers and sellers of asbestos, has taken to adorning pallets of its product with a seal of Trump’s face, along with the words “Approved by Donald Trump, 45th president of the United States”. The packaging can be seen here in a Facebook post from the company.

In their landmark decision last year, Brazil joined dozens of other countries in banning asbestos. Brazil used to be the largest supplier of asbestos to the U.S., so guess who that leaves as the largest supplier now? Russia, of course.

And if the connection wasn’t already clear enough, according to the Guardian, the caption under pictures posted by Uralasbest says “Donald is on our side!” There is also a note of thanks to Trump for supporting Scott Pruitt “who declared that his agency would no longer deal with matters related to side effects potentially caused by asbestos”. It also adds that Trump called asbestos “100% safe after application”, which he claimed in his 1997 book The Art of the Comeback. He also claimed in the book that “I believe that the movement against asbestos was led by the mob, because it was often mob-related companies that would do the asbestos removal.”

Uralasbest, once known as the “dying city” due to its high rate of lung cancer and other asbestos-related health issues is reported to have close ties to Russian president Vladimir Putin.

“Vladimir Putin and Russia’s asbestos industry stand to prosper mightily as a result of the Trump administration’s failure to ban asbestos in the US,” said Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group.

Asbestos is a known carcinogen due to evidence that, when disturbed, asbestos fibers can become lodged in the lungs and cause mesothelioma, asbestosis, and cancers of the lung, larynx and ovary. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that approximately 2,500 Americans die from mesothelioma alone every year.

From somebody that is suffering from asbestosis, this hurts more. I come from a town that had the largest asbestos mine in the world. In my lifetime, we were lied to by our govt. that it was safe. Then after 40 yrs of people dying from unexplained illness, we found out. Now this? pic.twitter.com/OvM8CQ68Jg — Muckmaker™ (@RealMuckmaker) August 8, 2018

So, here’s more evidence of Trump-Russia collusion. And this time, it’s at the expense of the health of all Americans.

You can follow me on Twitter @Mayme Barth

