Embattled Cobb Medical Sterilization Facility Must Self-Report Toxic Emissions: EPA

SMYRNA, GA — A Smyrna medical sterilization facility, along with 28 other medical sterilization facilities, will now have to self-report its emissions of a cancer-causing gas to a federal toxin database, according to new requirements from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The new rules were announced Dec. 27, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution first reported, and extend to 29 sterilization facilities, eight of which are owned by Sterigenics — including one in Smyrna.

These facilities were not previously reporting to the EPA's Toxics Release Inventory, which tracks pollutants released into the air and water, but will have to start tracking their emissions in January 2022 for the first report in 2023.

Sterigenics' Smyrna plant has been sterilizing medical equipment for decades with ethylene oxide, an odorless gas re-classified by the EPA in 2016 as a carcinogen, or cancer-causing agent; however, it's legal to use in the U.S. to sterilize medical equipment and spices. The company did previously report to the Toxic Release Inventory database up until 2017, because they were no longer required to do so based on a technicality: only manufacturers were required to report, and Sterigenics is classified as "support services."

But hundreds of Cobb residents claim the facility's emissions of the gas gave them cancer, and a recent ruling by a Cobb judge said Sterigenics' landlord could possibly be held liable for the elevated cancer risk.

“For too long, many communities in this country, particularly those with environmental justice concerns, have been at risk of exposure to EtO without even knowing it,” said Michal Freedhoff, assistant administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. “This determination will require companies that use the largest amounts of EtO in this industry sector to report to the TRI about their releases of this chemical and shed some light on potential exposures from this use. This will help inform EPA’s future actions and empower communities to act at the local level.”

The news about Sterigenics' operations arose in 2019 when a Georgia Health News and WebMD investigation revealed the EPA linked ethylene oxide emissions to an elevated risk of cancer in the surrounding area. As a result, hundreds of residents and dozens of workers filed lawsuits against the company.

Air testing near the Sterigenics plant has found ethylene oxide levels above what the EPA considers to be a health risk, the AJC reported in October 2020. The state Environmental Protection Division is reviewing whether to limit the company's annual emissions for the first time.

However, Sterigenics claims its operation is safe and high ethylene oxide levels found outside the plant can't be blamed on the company because "background levels" of the gas exist everywhere due to biological processes and common activities, like driving, home furnace use and gas grills.

Sterigenics told the EPA it was willing to comply with the new reporting requirements, and said it has previously provided similar information to the EPA and the state EPD, the AJC reported.

Related: Residents Can Sue Sterigenics Landlord Over Cancer Risk: Judge