WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� The to weaken air pollution limits on a chemical used to sterilize medical equipment, a move that would reverse a Biden administration finding of high cancer risks at manufacturing facilities that use to clean medical devices like catheters and syringes.
The EPA said it is concerned that the current Biden-era standards 鈥渁ctively threaten鈥� manufacturers’ abilities to sterilize equipment and 鈥渏eopardize one of America鈥檚 only options for a secure domestic supply chain of essential medical equipment.鈥�
Ethylene oxide plays a crucial role in sterilizing lifesaving medical devices, including pacemakers and syringes, but long-term exposure can cause leukemia and other types of cancer among people who work at medical sterilization facilities or live nearby.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said the proposed rule shows the agency’s commitment to protecting people鈥檚 health while maintaining a stable domestic medical supply chain.
鈥淭he Trump EPA is committed to ensuring life-saving medical devices remain available for the critical care of America鈥檚 children, elderly and all patients without unnecessary exposure to communities,” he said in a statement.
The proposal is the latest in a series of moves by the EPA under President Donald Trump to relax pollution limits and lower costs for industry. In February alone, the agency from coal-burning power plants and that served as the central basis for U.S. action to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change.
An EPA rule was intended to by about 90% by targeting nearly 90 commercial sterilization facilities across the country. The Biden-era rule also required companies to test for the antimicrobial chemical in the air and ensure their pollution controls are functioning properly.
The American Lung Association called the proposed rule change unacceptable.
鈥淭he science shows that both short-term and long-term exposure to ethylene oxide is dangerous for health,” said Laura Kate Bender, the association’s vice president. 鈥淧eople who live near many commercial sterilization facilities are over their lifetimes. No one should have to live with elevated cancer risk because of air pollution in their community.”
Environmental justice advocates noted that many ethylene oxide facilities are located in minority communities where Black and Brown people have been exposed to the cancer-causing chemical.
Ethylene oxide, also known as EtO, is a gas used to sterilize roughly half of all medical devices and is also used to ensure the safety of certain spices and other food products. It is used to clean everything from catheters to syringes, pacemakers and plastic surgical gowns. Brief exposure isn鈥檛 considered a danger, but breathing it long term elevates the risk of breast cancer and lymphoma, the EPA said.
The EPA first classified ethylene oxide as a human carcinogen in 2016.
In 2022, the EPA laid out the risks faced by residents who live near medical sterilization facilities. In Laredo, Texas, for example, residents and activists fought to clean up a sterilization facility run by Missouri-based Midwest Sterilization Corp. It was one of 23 sterilizers in the United States that the EPA said posed a risk for people nearby.
Sterigenics, a major sterilization company, shuttered a medical sterilization plant in a Chicago suburb after monitoring found emissions spikes in nearby neighborhoods. They eventually .
Scott Whitaker, president and CEO of the Advanced Medical Technology Association, said medical sterilizers provide a vital service and many devices can鈥檛 be sterilized by any other method.
“We appreciate the EPA鈥檚 efforts in listening to and understanding the importance of supplying safe, sterile medical technology without interruption while protecting employees and communities near sterilization facilities,” he said in an email.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn, who has raised concerns about emissions at a Sterigenics plant southeast of Los Angeles, said Friday that “the EPA is moving in the wrong direction and putting more Americans鈥� health on the line.鈥�
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Associated Press writer Dorany Pineda in Los Angeles contributed to this story.
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