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WASHINGTON -- After six years of frustrating failure and a rising death toll, Sen. Patty Murray said Tuesday that she is optimistic that legislation banning the sale and use of cancer-causing asbestos will pass this year.

"It's been shocking to me that after six years and a number of deaths of good people, we're still sitting in a committee. I have more hope this year than I've had in six years," Murray said after her bill was the focus of a hearing before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who chairs the committee, is co-sponsoring Murray's bill and using her position as a primary gatekeeper to push it toward passage.

"We must take every reasonable step we can to end exposures to asbestos," Boxer said.

"When we see our fathers, mothers, sisters and brothers dying from asbestos, there is no justification for allowing the number of dead to continue to mount. We know enough about asbestos to act today," she said.

Along with robust support from Democratic leaders, Murray said, she is in the final stages of negotiations with Georgia Sen. Johnny Isakson, a key Republican, on the last remaining issues that have prevented the bill from moving forward. The largest remaining issue, she said, is how to deal with manufacturers who use asbestos in the processing of chlorine.

"Senator Isakson has been very supportive and agrees with me that we need to ban asbestos imports in this country," Murray said.

"I'm hopeful we'll have a Murray-Isakson bill out of here," she said, alluding to the committee.

Asbestos is a known carcinogen that kills an estimated 10,000 people a year, according to a survey by the Environmental Working Group, an interest group that supports banning the material.

Revered as a fireproof "wonder fiber," asbestos is still used in more than 3,000 products, from brake shoes for cars to roofing tiles and insulation. But it has been shown to cause lethal respiratory disease and cancer.

The EWG found in its 2005 survey that Washington state ranks No. 8 in the nation in the number of asbestos-related deaths over the past 20 years with 2,311. Moreover, four Washington counties have among the nation's highest asbestos mortalities. King County tops the list at No. 4 with up to 595 deaths, followed by Kitsap at No. 24, Pierce at No. 28 and Snohomish at No. 52.

Despite those numbers and warnings from federal health officials that any exposure to asbestos is dangerous, about 2,500 metric tons of asbestos are imported into this country each year.

Among other things, Murray's bill calls for a complete ban of asbestos in products within two years after the measure becomes law. In a concession to Isakson and other Republicans, the bill would give the chlorine industry three years to phase out asbestos after new regulations are written by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The bill also provides $50 million in federal money for research into the causes and treatment of asbestos-related cancers and requires the federal government to conduct a more aggressive campaign to educate the public about the risks of asbestos.

Murray and other advocates of banning asbestos note that inexpensive -- and safe -- alternatives are readily available for most products currently using the mineral fiber.

She also points out that the EPA proposed a limited ban in 1989, but a federal appeals court overturned the regulations in 1991.

Asbestos is banned in Europe and in much of South America.

"To anyone who says we don't need this bill, I would just pose one question: How many more Americans have to die before our government finally does the right thing and bans asbestos?" Murray told the committee.

Like many Americans, Murray always assumed that asbestos was banned and was stunned to discover that it remains in wide use.

Her involvement deepened after learning about the experience in Libby, Mont., a small mining town 160 miles from Spokane that for years was buried under a cloud of asbestos.

That exposure, which was chronicled by the Seattle P-I, eventually killed 200 people and forced the EPA to place the entire town under a public health emergency and to declare it a Superfund site.

That prompted Murray to introduce her first asbestos bill in 2002.

P-I Washington correspondent Charles Pope can be reached at 202-263-6461 or charliepope@seattlepi.com.

*** POSTED JUNE 13, 2007 ***