Opinion: OSHA’s outdated ethylene oxide rules are putting Bay Area workers at risk

EVERY DAY IN THE BAY AREA and across California, workers step into sterilization facilities, unaware they may be inhaling something that could one day make them gravely ill. The culprit is ethylene oxide (EtO), a colorless, odorless gas used to sterilize nearly half of all medical equipment in the United States. Although the chemical plays a critical role in ensuring hospitals have sterile surgical tools and pharmaceutical supplies, it comes with a steep human cost. Classified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a known human carcinogen, EtO has been silently threatening thousands who work in and around the sterilization facilities in California.

It’s time for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to take responsibility and protect these workers. Without immediate, science-based reforms to current exposure limits, employees and surrounding communities will continue to breathe unsafe air — air that regulators already know can cause cancer.