EPA moves to weaken pollution limits on chemical used to sterilize
medical equipment
[March 14, 2026]
By MATTHEW DALY
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency proposed Friday to
weaken air pollution limits on a chemical used to sterilize medical
equipment, a move that would reverse a Biden administration finding of
high cancer risks at manufacturing facilities that use ethylene oxide to
clean medical devices like catheters and syringes.
The EPA said it is concerned that the current Biden-era standards
“actively threaten” manufacturers' abilities to sterilize equipment and
“jeopardize one of America’s only options for a secure domestic supply
chain of essential medical equipment.”
Ethylene oxide plays a crucial role in sterilizing lifesaving medical
devices, including pacemakers and syringes, but long-term exposure can
cause leukemia and other types of cancer among people who work at
medical sterilization facilities or live nearby.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said the proposed rule shows the agency's
commitment to protecting people’s health while maintaining a stable
domestic medical supply chain.
“The Trump EPA is committed to ensuring life-saving medical devices
remain available for the critical care of America’s children, elderly
and all patients without unnecessary exposure to communities," he said
in a statement.
The proposal is the latest in a series of moves by the EPA under
President Donald Trump to relax pollution limits and lower costs for
industry. In February alone, the agency weakened restrictions on mercury
from coal-burning power plants and repealed a scientific finding that
served as the central basis for U.S. action to regulate greenhouse gas
emissions and fight climate change.
An EPA rule finalized in 2024 was intended to reduce ethylene oxide
emissions by about 90% by targeting nearly 90 commercial sterilization
facilities across the country. The Biden-era rule also required
companies to test for the antimicrobial chemical in the air and ensure
their pollution controls are functioning properly.
The American Lung Association called the proposed rule change
unacceptable.
“The science shows that both short-term and long-term exposure to
ethylene oxide is dangerous for health," said Laura Kate Bender, the
association's vice president. “People who live near many commercial
sterilization facilities are much more likely to develop cancer over
their lifetimes. No one should have to live with elevated cancer risk
because of air pollution in their community."
Environmental justice advocates noted that many ethylene oxide
facilities are located in minority communities where Black and Brown
people have been exposed to the cancer-causing chemical.
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A syringe is prepared at a clinic in Norristown, Pa., on Dec. 7,
2021. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
 Ethylene oxide, also known as EtO,
is a gas used to sterilize roughly half of all medical devices and
is also used to ensure the safety of certain spices and other food
products. It is used to clean everything from catheters to syringes,
pacemakers and plastic surgical gowns. Brief exposure isn’t
considered a danger, but breathing it long term elevates the risk of
breast cancer and lymphoma, the EPA said.
The EPA first classified ethylene oxide as a human carcinogen in
2016.
In 2022, the EPA laid out the risks faced by residents who live near
medical sterilization facilities. In Laredo, Texas, for example,
residents and activists fought to clean up a sterilization facility
run by Missouri-based Midwest Sterilization Corp. It was one of 23
sterilizers in the United States that the EPA said posed a risk for
people nearby.
Sterigenics, a major sterilization company, shuttered a medical
sterilization plant in a Chicago suburb after monitoring found
emissions spikes in nearby neighborhoods. They eventually settled
numerous lawsuits.
Scott Whitaker, president and CEO of the Advanced Medical Technology
Association, said medical sterilizers provide a vital service and
many devices can’t be sterilized by any other method.
"We appreciate the EPA’s efforts in listening to and understanding
the importance of supplying safe, sterile medical technology without
interruption while protecting employees and communities near
sterilization facilities,'' he said in an email.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn, who has raised concerns
about emissions at a Sterigenics plant southeast of Los Angeles,
said Friday that "the EPA is moving in the wrong direction and
putting more Americans’ health on the line.”
___
Associated Press writer Dorany Pineda in Los Angeles contributed to
this story.
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