Asbestos bike brake pads recalled

Bridgestone Cycle (a Saitama subsidiary of the Japanese tire company) sold bikes in Japan with asbestos in the brake pads. About 19,500 children's bikes with the asbestos brakes were imported from China and sold in Japan. Bridgestone is offering free replacement of the brakes.

Incredibly, asbestos is still widely used in developing nations such as India, Brazil, and China and use of asbestos is actually increasing at an annual rate of about seven percent.

In the United States, asbestos has been banned for most uses since 1989.

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