EPA aims to loosen rules on cancer-causing ethylene oxide

By Nadia Ramlagan

The Environmental Protection Agency said it’s preparing to loosen rules on emissions for ethylene oxide commercial sterilization facilities used to sterilize medical equipment and make other industrial products.

Ohio is home to several such facilities. The chemical has been identified as a likely carcinogen and is associated with increased rates of cancer.

Janet McCabe, former deputy administrator of the EPA, said the new proposal is hard to square with the agency’s commitment to protect public health from toxic chemicals. The agency also announced it is no longer quantifying the health effects of its rulemaking, she added, despite continuing to calculate the cost savings for industries.

"They are not putting a dollar sign on what it will cost the public in increased cancer cases and cancer treatment," McCabe pointed out. "Many people believe that this is very inappropriate and not justified."

According to the EPA, ethylene oxide is used to sterilize 20 billion medical devices, or 50% of all medical devices in the U.S. The agency argued relaxing emissions regulations is needed to help develop a secure domestic supply chain for critical medical devices.

McCabe noted ethylene oxide, like many other pollutants, is colorless and odorless. It is nearly impossible for Ohioans to know if it is affecting their homes, neighborhoods, schools or workplaces.

"One of the things about sterilizers is that they tend to be smaller facilities," McCabe observed. "People aren't aware of them like you would be of a big factory."

The EPA previously documented nearly two dozen high-risk ethylene oxide sterilizer facilities which have a cancer risk rate above the EPA's threshold. Research shows the chemical can increase the risk of developing lymphoma, leukemia and breast cancer.