SEATTLE – Sen. Patty Murray says her bill to ban asbestos will get a reading later this month in the Environment and Public Works Committee. She says this is the first time the bill has reached the markup stage.

The bill also calls for spending $50 million for research and launching a public education campaign.

Murray spoke about the bill Friday at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

She says Washington has the eighth-highest incidence of deaths from asbestos related exposures in the country.

Asbestos is a mineral used in a wide variety of industrial products such as brake pads.