evaluate the risk, and move to fully banning asbestos without any exemptions. >> reporter: in 2006, linda reinstein's husband alan died of mesothelioma, cancer of the thin layer of tissue that covers our internal organs, a fatal disease caused almost exclusively by asbestos. alan reinstein was expos to asbestos at a shipyard and while doing home renovations. his widow is pushing newly- introduced legislation to enact an outright ban on asbestos. do you feel like you made ciogress? >> progress is gly slow. i've buried so many people i have known and loved, including my husband. >> you okay? >> yeah. i'm just loopy from the drugs. >> reporter: paul zygielbaum is one of those stories behind the grim numbers. when we first met him in december of 2017, he was in the midst of a powerful chemotherapy infusion 14 years after he was diagnosed with mesothelioma. >> i'm just hoping that i can get back to a better physical condition, where i can do the things i want to do. i have no idea whether that's going to happen or not, so thatt is kind of fting. >> reporter: this is just one of more than 50 rounds of chem

. >> reporter: for 15 yes, linda reinstein has pounded the marble halls of power in washington, a ot soldier in a long environmental battle that you might think was over. >> we deserve to have our air free of contaminants, air, soil and water. and without an asbestos ban on all products, we remain in peril. >> reporter: asbestos; naturally-occurring mineral fibers that are durable, fir resistant and highly carcinogenic. breathing them can trigger lethal diseases. there is no debate about that. but more than 50 years after a landmark studyasonfirmed this, stos is a poster child for a broken regulatory process. it is still used by u.s.es industry, t in 30 million homes, and is a contaminant in consumer products, including children's toys and makeup. the f.d.a. is now warning parents to throw out three products from claire's after new tests found they contained bestos. officially, asbestos kills nearly 3,000 americans every year, but these deaths are under-reported. environmental and health advocates believe the actualll s much higher. >> i urge you to expeditiously and thoroughly evalu