Durbin, Duckworth, Schneider Slam Trump EPA Proposed Weakening Of EtO Protections

Durbin, Duckworth, Schneider Slam Trump EPA Proposed Weakening Of EtO Protections

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), both members of the Senate Environmental Justice Caucus, and U.S. Representative Brad Schneider (D-IL-10), Co-Chair of the bipartisan Ethylene Oxide Task Force, today released the following statement on the Trump Administration's proposal to roll back a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule that protected Americans from harmful exposure to ethylene oxide (EtO), a known carcinogen:

"We have known for decades that ethylene oxide poses a serious threat to human health, increasing the risk of leukemia and cancer to those exposed. Despite this, the Trump Administration's EPA has proposed weakening protections on EtO emissions, unquestionably threatening the health of those working at or living near sterilization facilities.

"Illinoisans-especially those near medical equipment sterilization facilities in Waukegan and Gurnee-deserve robust protections and an EPA that prioritizes their health. We urge the Trump Administration to follow the science and uphold strong safeguards that protect public health, ensure transparency for impacted communities, and guarantee that no family has to live with unnecessary cancer risks simply because of where they reside."

In 2024, the Biden Administration's EPA implemented a new rule to tighten emission limits, monitoring, and controls for commercial sterilization facilities that use EtO. The rule, which covered plants like Medline in Waukegan, Illinois and Vantage in Gurnee, Illinois, aimed to reduce EtO emissions by 90 percent by installing effective, achievable air pollution controls and preventing toxic emissions from reaching the communities in which these facilities operate. Today, the Trump Administration's EPA moved to loosen the limits implemented through the Biden-era rule.

In November 2023, Durbin, Duckworth, and Schneider released a statement regarding a report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) evaluating the public health impacts of the EtO, a cancer-causing agent, emitted from the now-closed Sterigenics medical sterilization facility in Willowbrook, Illinois. In the report, ATSDR concluded that, prior to February 15, 2019, long-term breathing of air within one mile of the Sterigenics facility is a concern for increased lifetime risk of cancer associated with EtO exposure, due to the gas' concentration in the air during the sterilization operations at the facility. The report also found that the air within a mile of the facility no longer poses significant risk to residents as the Sterigenics facility is no longer operational.

Durbin, Duckworth, and Schneider have been strong advocates for addressing the unacceptable level of EtO emissions. In July 2023, the lawmakers led a letter signed by 40 Members of Congress to EPA supporting the Biden Adminsitration's proposed EtO sterilizer rule. Durbin, Duckworth, and Schneider have also previously introduced legislation that would require EPA to update EtO emissions standards to reflect the stricter criteria outlined in EPA's 2016 IRIS study. Under the bill, any updates to the emissions standards would have to incorporate the maximum achievable control technology requirements to exhaust vents and apply to both area and major sources, which covers plants like Sterigenics. It would also require EPA to undergo a residual risk assessment following implementation of the new rule, which is a stringent and public-health focused review of the rule's impacts.

The lawmakers have also met with the CEO of Sotera Health, the parent company of Sterigenics; convened meetings with then-EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler on the issue; and sat down with Willowbrook residents.

EtO serves a variety of industrial purposes, including as a sterilizer for 50 percent of sterile medical devices. In 2016, EPA identified EtO as a human carcinogen and included the chemical in the National Air Toxics Assessment. Subsequently, EPA identified communities that faced potentially dangerous levels of EtO emissions from 86 EtO commercial sterilizers in the U.S.

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