Sixteen AGs Urged EPA to Tighten Restrictions on Ethylene Oxide Emissions

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul led a coalition of 16 state attorneys general in sending a letter urging the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to strengthen regulations on ethylene oxide (EtO) emissions, and to support research into alternatives to EtO, which is widely used in medical equipment sterilization. EtO is among the most hazardous of the 187 air pollutants regulated under the Clean Air Act’s National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants, and is known to be carcinogenic in humans when inhaled. In their letter, the attorneys general warned that the current standard, which allows tens of thousands of pounds to be emitted annually by commercial sterilization facilities, “fails to adequately protect workers and communities.” The attorneys general emphasized that the EPA is moving “much too slowly to adopt the regulations needed to protect the public from this carcinogen,” and noted that the agency is more than five years behind in fulfilling its statutory obligation to review EtO emissions standards. The coalition called on the EPA to work with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration “to support research into effective alternatives to EtO sterilization,” and stressed that the “over-reliance on EtO sterilization must end.”