New EPA rule to slash cancer-causing emissions from sterilization facilities

The Midwest Sterilization Corporation in Laredo on May 13, 2021. (Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune)

---

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday issued a rule to slash toxic emissions from commercial sterilization facilities that have posed an increased lifetime cancer risk to residents who live near them. These facilities release fumes of ethylene oxide, labeled by the federal agency as “one of the most potent cancer-causing chemicals.”