Study shows cancer-causing industrial chemical disproportionately affects low-income minorities
The Sterigenics plant sits tucked into a low-slung industrial area in Smyrna. Sterigenics and other medical sterilizers take issue with the EPA’s new risk value for ethylene oxide, which finds that the chemical can cause cancer in minuscule amounts.
A new scientific analysis shows communities of color and lower-income neighborhoods are disproportionately harmed by pollution from industrial sites emitting the cancer-causing gas ethylene oxide.
That includes some heavily-populated areas of metro Atlanta, which is home to four such industrial facilities, including Sterigenics in Smyrna.
Darya Minovi is a senior analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists. She recently joined WABE’s “All Things Considered” to explain where ethylene oxide is used and why Atlanta in particular should be concerned.
“Ideally what we should be doing is focusing on identifying safe alternatives to ethylene oxide to use for sterilization so that we no longer rely on this toxic chemical, because we’ll never be able to 100% eliminate emissions for people that live near these facilities,” said Minovi. “We can work to get them as close to zero as possible, but ideally we wouldn’t even be using it at all.”
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