More Americans die each year from asbestos-related diseases than from fires and drowning combined, according to a study by the Environmental Working Group.

From its analysis of federal mortality records, the EWG concluded that 10,000 Americans die each year from asbestos exposure. They project 100,000 people in the United States will die in the next decade from asbestos-related diseases.

“We took a new look at an old subject and found that asbestos is not an economic issue but a public health crisis - one that has yet to reach its peak,” said Richard Wiles, lead author of the study.

Since 1979, more than 43,000 Americans have died from asbestos-related diseases, said the study. The advocacy group estimates that one million U.S. workers are exposed to asbestos every year.

The think tank RAND Corporation estimates that asbestos litigation has cost U.S. businesses $70 billion and bankrupt over 66 companies.

The Senate is considering a proposed asbestos trust fund that would eliminate all asbestos litigation and instead compensate asbestos cancer victims from a set schedule based on their disease.

“But because asbestos-related diseases take up to 50 years to show up, even if everyone who is sick today was helped, the fund would deny justice to hundreds of thousands who have yet to become ill,” EWG said.

EWG report called on the federal government to ban asbestos immediately and look for a policy solution that will care for all victims - now and in the future.

(via Environmental Working Group)