When ProPublica published stories this fall laying out new evidence of asbestos exposure among American chemical workers, readers were surprised by the simplest of facts: Is asbestos, a deadly mineral whose dangers have been known for more than a century, still legal?

Asbestos is just one of many toxic substances linked to problems such as cancer, genetic mutations, and fetal harm that other countries have banned, but not the United States. These include substances such as hexabromocyclododecane, a flame retardant used in some construction materials that can harm fetal development and disrupt thyroid hormones, and trichloroethylene, a toxic industrial defatted, which has contaminated communities, including one that has suffered a series of tragic childhood cancers.

Michal Freedhoff, head of chemical regulation at the Environmental Protection Agency, acknowledges that regulators have been doing nothing for decades. A chronic lack of funding and staff, along with obstacles created by the Trump administration, has crippled the agency in recent years, she said. Still, Freedhoff is confident that the regulatory system is capable of protecting the public from dangerous substances, and said the EPA is "moving as quickly as possible to put in place much-needed protections."

But the flaws in U.S. chemical regulators run deeper than money or the decisions of the previous presidential administration. ProPublica spoke with environmental experts around the world, delving into half a century of legislation, lawsuits, EPA documents, oral histories, chemical databases, and global regulatory records to build a blueprint for a failed system. This is why the United States is a global laggard in chemical regulation.

ECHEMI --- The name originated from the abbreviation of “E-commerce of chemical”.