In a post to its page on Facebook, Uralasbest, which is one of the world’s largest producers and sellers of asbestos, showcased new pallets of its product adorned with a seal of Trump’s face, along with the words “Approved by Donald Trump, 45th president of the United States”.

Citing Trump’s outspoken support for the carcinogen, the post follows the US Environmental Protection Agency’s recent decision not to ban new asbestos products outright. The EPA said it would evaluate new uses of asbestos but environmental groups have criticized the agency for not going further by barring them on public health grounds.

“Donald is on our side!” the post adds.

The use of asbestos, a fibrous silicate mineral that was used widely in industrial and commercial purposes such as construction, has fallen out of favour in many applications after a large body of scientific evidence connecting exposure to serious health concerns.

Its use is restricted in the United States, though it has never been outright banned, as it has been in at least 60 other countries.

But Trump has long expressed scepticism about its potential health effects calling it “100% safe, once applied”, in his 1997 book The Art of the Comeback.

“I believe that the movement against asbestos was led by the mob, because it was often mob-related companies that would do the asbestos removal,” he wrote.

In 2012, he tweeted that the World Trade Center “would never have burned down” after the September 11 attacks if asbestos hadn’t been removed from the building.