"Ethylene oxide was once considered an unremarkable pollutant. The colorless gas seeped from relatively few industrial facilities and commanded little public attention. All that changed in 2016, when the Environmental Protection Agency completed a study that found the chemical is 30 times more carcinogenic than previously thought. The agency then spent years updating regulations that protect millions of people who are most exposed to the compound."
"In government records that have flown under the radar, President Donald Trump's EPA said it is reconsidering whether the agency had the legal authority to update those rules. Chemical companies and their trade organizations have argued that the EPA cannot reevaluate hazardous air pollution rules to account for newly discovered harms if it has revised them once already. It doesn't matter if decades have passed or new information has emerged."
Ethylene oxide was found in 2016 to be about 30 times more carcinogenic than previously believed, prompting years of EPA rulemaking and stricter 2024 limits. The EPA implemented measures requiring commercial sterilizers and emissions reductions to protect millions of exposed people. The Trump EPA has indicated it is reconsidering whether the agency has legal authority to revise hazardous-air-pollution rules after they have been set once. Industry groups argue the agency cannot reassess rules to reflect newly discovered harms even after decades. Acceptance of that view could severely limit the EPA's ability to control nearly 200 pollutants from thousands of plants.
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