Many medical devices need to be sterile to be used safely. But sterilizing a pacemaker, catheter, or other device with steam or heat could damage its structural integrity. So medical device manufacturers turn to the chemical compound ethylene oxide, which is highly effective at killing microbes at low concentrations and allows companies to meet the Food and Drug Administration’s strict sterility standards. As a result, roughly half of all medical devices in the country are sterilized with ethylene oxide, or EtO, making it a linchpin of the medical device industry.
There’s just one problem: EtO is a toxic gas that has been linked to cancers of the breast and lymph nodes. Roughly 90 facilities across the country deploy the chemical for sterilization. These nondescript facilities often resemble warehouses and are located in residential neighborhoods and near schools.
In 2022, the Environmental Protection Agency discovered that dozens of these facilities presented an unacceptable cancer risk to surrounding communities. Two years later, the federal agency, ... Read more
