A recent report by the U.S. Geological Survey (PDF) (USGS) has revealed that asbestos consumption in the United States has increased by more than 25% since 2009. The USGS report on asbestos revealed that manufacturers and other companies in the U.S. used 1,100 tons of asbestos in 2011, compared to just 869 tons in 2009.

The report also found that U.S. asbestos exports rose between 2009 and 2001. According to the agency, the U.S. exported an average of 115 tons of asbestos materials in 2010 and 2011; in 2009, only 59 tons of asbestos were exported by the U.S.

Perry Browder of the law firm of Simmons Browder Gianaris Angelides & Barnerd writes that these statistics fly in the face most Americans’ assumption that the use of asbestos has been prohibited in the U.S.

Many Americans falsely believe that asbestos use is banned. That’s not true. The mining of asbestos has been banned since 2002. But companies still import a known carcinogen that causes mesothelioma, a deadly cancer that 3,000 Americans are diagnosed with ever year.

The USGS report also found that 92% of the asbestos imported into the U.S. between 2007 and 2010 came from Canada. Critics have stated that Canada has made itself an “international pariah” for continuing to mine and export asbestos in spite of evidence linking asbestos exposure to mesothelioma and other deadly cancer.