Lake County Gazette

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (or TCEQ) will release a report claiming that levels of ethylene oxide (EtO) are lower in Texas than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) suggests.

The TCEQ findings put a spotlight on the efforts of health care supply companies like Medline Industries to improve their EtO processes to ensure safe emissions in sterilizing and producing vital medical supplies.

TCEQ disputes the EPA's IRIS claim that Texas facilities emit unsafe levels of ethylene oxide, and says the report will provide evidence of this at release.  

Earlier this month, Northfield-based Medline told the Lake County Gazette that they are confident their EtO levels will be at, or improve upon, safe levels, thanks to new controls in Waukegan which abate 99.9 percent of all EtO used at the facility.

Medline Industries public affairs director Jesse Greenberg spoke to the Lake County Gazette on May 19.

“Medline has always operated safely and below any permitted emissions levels,” Greenberg said. “Even before our $10 million investment in best available emissions abatement technology, ambient air samples taken by the Lake County Health Department measured EtO well below the national average as measured by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency at 34 sites across the nation. Those sites do not include stationary sources of EtO either.”

In 2016, the EPA issued a report focusing on the dangers of breathing ethylene oxide. The EPA reports that the DNA-damaging properties of the chemical have been widely studied since the 1940s.

“EtO is known to be mutagenic in a large number of living organisms, ranging from bacteriophage, to mammals, and to induce chromosome damage,” the report says. “In humans employed in EtO-manufacturing facilities and in sterilizing facilities, there is a strong evidence of an increased risk of cancer of the lymphohematopoietic system and of breast cancer in females.”

EtO is considered a cancer-causing agent for humans, although the evidence of carcinogenicity from human studies is less than conclusive.

Greenberg said that Medline’s results are superior to other measured area levels, and that their results have consistently shown that the company is staying within the EPA’s required limits, not exceeding them, as the EPA IRIS data suggests.

“Ambient air testing near our facility in Waukegan also demonstrated lower levels of EtO than nearby Chicago and Northbrook,” Greenberg said. “We operate the most advanced safety technology in the world at our Waukegan plant, with testing showing the new controls capture 99.99 percent of all ethylene oxide used at the facility. In addition to sterilization of surgical packs, the facility plays an immediate and direct role in supporting health care professionals battling the coronavirus at medical facilities across Illinois.”

Air monitoring results were collected for 12 different sites five times between April 4 and April 17, and in each instance, the measured air concentration of EtO was under 1.0 parts per billion, ranging from 0.313 at the Belle Plaine Ave facility in Gurnee, and 0.423 at the FP access west of Green Bay Road in Waukegan.