Sterigenics’ parent company Sotera Health announced that it has agreed to settle more than 870 ethylene oxide lawsuits in Illinois. The agreements, announced yesterday evening, have Sterigenics paying $408 million to settle the claims filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County and U.S. District Court in northern Illinois. Sotera Health saw its stock more […]
ethylene oxide
Cardinal Health subsidiary faces federal lawsuit over EtO plant in Georgia
Nearly two dozen people who have lived in the Augusta, Ga. area are suing Cardinal Health subsidiary Kendall Patient Recovery U.S. over ethylene oxide emissions from a medical device sterilization plant in the city. The people suing KPR U.S. in U.S. District Court in Southern Georgia lived and worked within miles of the Augusta facility […]
Italian sterilization plants falsified records for years, FDA says
An Italian medtech sterilization company falsified records of various FDA-regulated products since 2016, the agency said today. The company, Steril Milano, falsified graphs and parameters of sterilization certificates for devices processed at its Reggiolo and Monza ethylene oxide (EtO) plants, the FDA said. Steril Milano on March 9, 2021, announced the temporary closure of the Monza […]
Medline, Sterigenics failed to report EtO emissions to EPA, report says
Two companies that use ethylene oxide (EtO) to sterilize medical devices failed to report emissions of the toxic gas to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, according to a report by the Chicago Tribune. Medline Industries and Sterigenics, both headquartered in Illinois, have also operated medtech sterilization operations in the state. Medline continues to do so, and Sterigenics decided in September 2019 not to […]
New ethylene oxide regulations now expected in 2022
The EPA now estimates that it will propose new regulations for medical device sterilizers’ emissions of ethylene oxide (EtO) in 2022. The agency issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking for the commercial sterilizers in December 2019 but has not produced the proposal. Now the EPA’s inspector general wants the agency to conduct a new residual […]
New Mexico AG sues Sterigenics over ethylene oxide emissions
The attorney general of New Mexico has filed a lawsuit against Sterigenics and associated companies claiming a company medtech sterilization plant in Santa Teresa, N.M. has harmed air quality and “materially contributed” to nearby residents’ health risks. In the claim filed Dec. 22, 2020, attorney general Hector Balderas alleges that Sterigenics has caused “substantial unreported, uncontrolled releases” […]
CDC: Ethylene oxide may have more health effects than cancer
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention yesterday released a draft toxicity profile of ethylene oxide (EtO) that treats it as a more far-reaching health threat than the Environmental Protection Agency does. The EPA and the federal Department of Health and Human Services both consider EtO a human carcinogen. The medical device industry relies on […]
Federal rule on ethylene oxide now delayed until 2021
The final federal rule limiting ethylene oxide (EtO) emissions from commercial medtech sterilization plants is now set to come out in 2021, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, the EPA had expected to issue the rule in May 2020. The agency considers ethylene oxide a carcinogen, and EtO emissions have attracted national […]
600 new ethylene oxide lawsuits filed against Sterigenics in Illinois
More than 600 lawsuits were filed last week against Sterigenics, claiming that emissions from the company’s now-shuttered Willowbrook, Ill., ethylene oxide (EtO) plant caused health problems in people who lived or worked nearby. The filings bring the total of personal-injury lawsuits against the Oak Park, Ill.-based company to more than 700, according to one of more […]
Sterigenics sues Ga. county officials over EtO-related property tax devaluations
Sterigenics has filed a lawsuit against the members of a Georgia county tax board, claiming that the board’s decision to lower valuations on properties near the company’s medical device sterilization plant has harmed its reputation. The federal lawsuit, filed in Atlanta, also claims that the members of the Cobb County Board of Tax Assessors unfairly and […]
Dems seek to force EPA action on ethylene oxide monitoring
Democrats in both houses of Congress have introduced legislation that would force the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to better monitor emissions of ethylene oxide (EtO) from plants that manufacture the toxic gas or use it to sterilize medical devices. The Public Health Air Quality Act of 2020, sponsored by Sen. Tammy Duckworth (Ill.) and Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester […]
