AP – The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing a limit on the use of the chemical ethylene oxide after finding a higher than expected cancer risk in facilities that use it to sterilize billions of medical devices each year. The EPA said Tuesday that its proposal will reduce ethylene oxide emissions from 86 medical sterilization facilities across the United States by roughly 80%. The companies will also have to measure the chemical in the air. The proposed change is based on EPA research that found as many as 1 in 10 workers exposed to ethylene oxide in sterilization plants could develop cancer, over and above their usual risk. Ethylene oxide is classified as a pesticide.
