Cofounder of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO)
Knownfor
Public Health and Environmental Justice Advocate
Linda Reinstein (born December 28, 1955, San Diego, California) is an American public health advocate and the president and co-founder of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO), a nonprofit dedicated to preventing asbestos-related diseases through education, advocacy, and community initiatives.[1]
Following the 2003 diagnosis and 2006 death of her husband, Alan, from mesothelioma, a cancer caused by asbestos exposure, Reinstein co-founded ADAO in 2004 with Doug Larkin to raise awareness about asbestos dangers and support affected communities. As president and CEO, she has leveraged social media and global platforms to unite asbestos victims, advocate for a U.S. and global asbestos ban, and promote environmental justice. Reinstein has been a prominent voice in asbestos-related policy, testifying before U.S. Congress[2] and speaking at international conferences to address the public health threat posed by asbestos, which is linked to approximately 40,000 U.S. deaths annually from diseases like mesothelioma and lung cancer.[3]
Global Presentations and U.S. Congressional Hearings
Reinstein has presented hundreds of speeches, and keynote addresses focused on public health and environmental justice to audiences throughout the U.S., Amsterdam, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, England, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Pakistan, Portugal, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, The Netherlands, and Turkey. She has frequently served as a U.S. Congressional witness. She has also presented persuasive testimony, presentations, and keynote speeches across the world on the threat of asbestos to public health and the environment, including:
U.S. Senate: Environmental and Public Works (EPW) Hearings June 2007 and July 2013 [4]
U.S. House of Representatives Hearings February 2008, September 2013, and May 2019[5]
United Nations World Congress on Safety and Health at Work (2011, 2014, 2017)[7]
International Mesothelioma Interest Group[8] Amsterdam (2008), Kyoto (2010), South Africa (2014), and Ottawa (2018)
American Public Health Association[9] (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017)
Global Health & Innovation Conference at Yale University,(2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019)[10]
Annual Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization's International Asbestos Awareness and Prevention Conferences [11](2005-2019)
Prevention and Policy Work
Reinstein has utilized media to amplify ADAO’s mission, launching initiatives like National[12] and Global Asbestos Awareness Week [13] (GAAW). Her advocacy has driven significant policy efforts, notably the Alan Reinstein Ban Asbestos Now (ARBAN) Act[14], reintroduced in 2023 by Senator Jeff Merkley and Representative Suzanne Bonamici to ban all six asbestos fibers in the U.S. She has also celebrated milestones like the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Asbestos Part 1; Chrysotile Asbestos; Regulation of Certain Conditions of Use Under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)[15], while criticizing its limited scope and extended phaseout periods, advocating for comprehensive legislation to eliminate all asbestos fibers.
During the past decades, she has designed ADAO’s “Share Your Story” campaign, which has compiled over 200 personal accounts of asbestos-related disease victims, published in the 2024 book Shared Stories: How Asbestos Changed Our Lives Forever, featuring photojournalist Earl Dotter's work. The 2024 launch of Every13Minutes.org, highlighting the statistic that an American dies from an asbestos-related disease every 13 minutes, personalizes data to drive awareness.
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