EPA releases stricter rules for ethylene oxide plants.
Activist Vera Holmes, whose family has lived in Memphis for generations, says she will keep pushing until the EtO facility is out of her community.After years of holding community meetings and knocking on doors, community activists are now seeing action about an invisible risk raising concerns about cancer in their communities.
Resident Ural Grant, who has lived in Memphis for more than 35 years, was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer in 2019.While there is no known risk to doctors and patients using the EtO-sterilized devices, the Environmental Protection Agency announced in 2022 that long-term exposure to the gas emissions from facilities can increase the risk of cancers including lymphoma, leukemia, stomach and breast cancers.
“So many people that I know within my family and live in this area have died of cancer or have cancer now,” Vera Holmes, president of the Mallory Heights CDC, told “Nightline.” KeShaun Pearson, president of Memphis Community Against Pollution, believes that racial injustice is at play when toxic gas emission happens in predominantly Black neighborhoods.
Among the industrial facilities nearby, Midwest Sterilization Corporation has been in operation since 2005. Up to 40% of all the nation's sterilization kits are sterilized in this location. We are firmly committed to doing everything possible to continue to reduce emissions and keep Laredoans safe.”For the first time in 50 years, the EPA released new rules for commercial sterilization that uses EtO, aiming to reduce emission by more than 90%. Under the new regulation, facilities will have to implement major changes including pollution control, ventilation systems, and increased monitoring and reporting.
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