This story is jointly reported by Brenda Goodman of WebMD and Andy Miller of Georgia Health News.
The year Singley was diagnosed with breast cancer, 2007, a company now called BD Bard, which sterilizes medical devices, reported releasing more than 9,000 pounds of a gas called ethylene oxide into the air about a half-mile from her home. The highest risks were in 12 census tracts in “cancer alley,” in Louisiana, near facilities that make ethylene oxide or use it to make other chemicals. Other states with affected areas included Pennsylvania, Colorado, Texas, New Mexico, Delaware, New Jersey, and Illinois, according to an analysis of the NATA data byGeorgia has three affected census tracts, all in metro Atlanta -- two in the Smyrna area, and one in Covington where Ann Singley lived.
Companies that release ethylene oxide have largely continued to do business as usual. Many are legally allowed to release thousands of pounds of ethylene oxide each year because they received state permits before the EPA lowered the risk threshold for the chemical. In Smyrna, the state estimates ethylene oxide emissions are 27 to 61 times higher than the AAC. In Covington, concentrations of ethylene oxide in neighborhoods around the plant range from 17 to 97 times the AAC.“So what do I need to do? Move? I’m not going to jeopardize my children,” said Cargile, 59, who lives in Covington with her two grandsons.
But data compiled by the Georgia Comprehensive Cancer Registry show at least one of the cancers tied to ethylene oxide , non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, has risen significantly over the last decade, especially among men, in the 30014 ZIP code around the sterilizing plant in Covington. That’s the same pattern seen in studies of exposed workers.
Ethylene oxide molecules disperse in outdoor air, but they don’t disappear for a long time. The chemical has a half-life of about 200 days in air, or almost 7 months. That means it takes that long for just half of the chemical to break down. At a toxicology conference in Galveston, TX, in 1981, Marvin Legator, PhD, briefed the audience on emerging cancer risks from chemicals. “The biggest problem chemical we have right now is ethylene oxide,” he said.There was one place where news about ethylene oxide exploded: the Village of Willowbrook, IL, an affluent suburb of Chicago.
This is truly terrifying & we need to take action on this!
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