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BALTIMORE, MD – Attorney General Anthony G. Brown today joined a coalition of 16 attorneys general opposing a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposal to repeal national emission standards for ethylene oxide (EtO) used by commercial sterilization facilities. According to the EPA’s own assessment, EtO is a known human carcinogen and among the most toxic pollutants regulated under the Clean Air Act.
In 2024, the EPA improved old regulations on EtO, taking into account updated scientific evidence showing EtO emissions are far more harmful than previously recognized. Among other improvements, the 2024 updates required the complete capture of EtO at sterilizer facilities that use it, major reductions to EtO pollution and continuous emissions monitoring at regulated facilities. The Trump administration is now proposing to dismantle the updated EtO limits and return to the old regulations.
There are four commercial sterilization facilities that use EtO in Maryland, located in Jessup, Hanover, Hampstead, and Salisbury. More than 343,000 Marylanders live within five miles of these facilities.
In their comments, Attorney General Brown and the coalition argue that the EPA’s new proposal unlawfully ignores decades of scientific progress and improved understanding of the health risks from EtO pollution.
Long-term cumulative exposure, even to very small amounts of EtO, significantly increases the risk of developing certain types of cancers. Researchers for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health found that workers from 13 sterilizer facilities who participated in a study of EtO’s health effects suffered higher rates of breast cancer and lymphomas. A follow-up study on the female workers found that cumulative exposure to EtO was associated with elevated rates of breast cancer mortality, with workers who were exposed to the highest EtO levels dying at three times the rate of their unexposed peers.
Short-term exposure to high levels of EtO can cause memory loss, headaches, dizziness, numbness and other neurological impacts, as well as respiratory, eye and skin irritation. Children are especially vulnerable to EtO, which can cause DNA mutations. Analysis from the EPA also found that commercial sterilizers emitting EtO disproportionately impose adverse health effects on communities of color, low-income populations and indigenous peoples.
Joining Attorney General Brown in submitting the letter are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont and Virginia, along with the California Air Resources Board.
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