Emerging Chemical Issues – Ethylene Oxide (Part 1 Of 5): Why It Matters

In the past two years, hundreds of lawsuits have been filed against companies based on their emissions of a chemical called ethylene oxide (often referred to as "EtO" or "EO"). Multiple facilities that handle EtO also have been shut down on a temporary or permanent basis, and many others have been subjected to administrative enforcement actions or been required to amend permits and install millions of dollars of additional emission control equipment even when the companies were already in compliance with federal emission standards for EtO. Many of these actions have been predicated on the perceived health risks associated with EtO based upon a risk assessment performed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2016 that has been heavily criticized in the scientific community.