Sterigenics

As if it didn't already have enough problems, it turns out that the Unsellable Condo in Vinings is on the edge of a zone impacted by airborne releases of a carcinogenic chemical. 

Back in 2016, the U.S. EPA determined that the pollutant ethylene oxide (EtO) is more dangerous than they had previously assumed and moved it from the list of probable human carcinogens to the list of known human carcinogens, noting that it was 30 times more likely to cause certain cancers than previous assessments indicated.

Last year, EPA used that new risk information in a periodic report that assesses health risks from releases of airborne toxins in the U.S.  The National Air Toxics Assessment identified 109 census tracts across the country where cancer risks were elevated because of exposure to airborne toxins. Most of the risks were driven by just one chemical: EtO.

Three of the affected tracts are here in Georgia, and one, the Sterigenics plant in Smyrna, is about 1.5 miles from the Vinings condo. Emissions of EtO from the Smyrna plant could potentially cause 114 additional cases of cancer for every million people exposed over their lifetime.

For some reason, EPA decided not to issue a press release about their findings at that time, and state regulators have not release one either.  As a result, few people who live in the impacted area were aware of the threat until they started reading about it online at WebMD and Georgia Health News.  The story is just now starting to make the news, and a public hearing was held on Monday night.

Sterigenics uses EtO to sterilize medical equipment.  Fugitive emissions from the sterilization process are emitted from wall fans, and the facility is proposing to collect the fugitive emissions and send them to two stacks up on the roof.

Headquartered in Willowbrook, Illinois, Sterigenics, with the American Chemistry Council, had been lobbying the EPA for several years to not classify EtO as a known carcinogen.  Peter Roskam, the Republican congressman for the Sixth District of Illinois, where Sterigenics is headquartered, had received campaign contributions from the American Chemistry Council and had supported legislation to put industry representatives on the EPA boards that make determinations on carcinogenicity to humans.  The State of Illinois closed the Willowbrook plant after testing showed high levels of airborne EtO and a follow-up study by the Illinois Department of Public Health found higher rates of cancer among women and girls in surrounding neighborhoods.  Roskam, a six-term incumbent, was defeated last year by Democratic challenger Sean Casten, a former cancer researcher with degrees in molecular biology, biochemistry and biochemical engineering.

In any event, the condo in Vinings is located right of the very edge of the area that the state's models indicate may be impacted by the Sterigenics facility (the boundary line literally runs right through the building).  However, the condo is located northwest of the facility and the dominant wind direction in this part of the country is to the east (although ground-level breezes may differ).  And in any event, I haven't lived in the condo since 2004.

Hope everyone else is okay, though.