Cancer-Causing Gas Levels Reduced From Lakewood Industrial Firm

LAKEWOOD, CO – Results are in for air and environmental testing near a Lakewood company that was flagged by the EPA in August for for releasing potentially cancer-causing levels of ethylene oxide, a flammable, colorless gas used to sterilize medical equipment.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment released their assessment Dec. 3 of the danger of cancer-causing emissions near Terumo BCT Sterilization Services, Inc. at 11308 W. Collins Ave. in Lakewood. The company was one of 26 nationally identified in the EPA's National Air Toxics Assessment, that uses a computer model to identify pollutants "in need of further examination."

The results of the air quality tests will be discussed Tuesday, Dec. 11, in an open house-style public meeting by representatives from the Jefferson County Public Health, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Terumo BCT. The meeting will be held from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Boy Scouts of America office at 10455 6th Ave. in Lakewood.

According to the state health department, the Terumo facility had "three emission point sources, one of which was not controlled." The facility was not federally required to control that emission point, the health department said, but on Sept. 20, after the request of investigators, Terumo BCT "modified their emissions controls so that the uncontrolled source was routed to an existing control system."

The state regulators found that once that adjustment had been made the amount of ethylene oxide was cut by half in air quality tests performed in October.

"Safety and health are top priorities for our associates, our community and the patients we ultimately serve… We work vigorously to minimize impact on the environment," Rusty Spinney, executive vice president of global operations for Terumo BCT said in a statement to the Lakewood Sentinel in August.

Terumo has been operating a facility on this site since 2001, the report said. New changes in 2016 in the way the EPA computer-modeled cancer risks from ethylene oxide were blamed for the elevated risk. The 2014 estimated excess cancer risk was 500-in-a-million, up from less than 100-in-a-million in the previous study.

Exposure to ethylene oxide over time can irritate the eyes, skin, nose, throat, and lungs, and harm the brain and nervous system (causing effects such as headaches, memory loss, numbness), the EPA said. Breathing air with high levels of ethylene oxide over many years increases the risk of some types of cancers, including non-Hodgkin lymphoma, myeloma and lymphocytic leukemia and breast cancer in females.

The state health department also evaluated the number of cancer cases reported between 2000-2017 in the census tract areas near the facility. While the number of cancer cases was higher than predicted other parts of the state, the number of cases was too small to be statistically significant, the state said.

Related: Lakewood Industrial Firm Targeted By EPA For Cancer-Causing Gas

READ the report HERE.

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