Higher Cancer Risk For 2 NJ Towns' Residents Due To Toxic Gas: Feds

NEW JERSEY — Residents in two New Jersey towns have an elevated risk of developing cancer because of exposure to a toxic chemical, according to federal officials. The Environmental Protection Agency determined that residents in 23 locales around the nation receive too much exposure to Ethylene Oxide (EtO).

Linden and Franklin both have companies that use EtO, according to the EPA. The chemical is most often used for sterilizing medical equipment and decontaminating spices. But breathing in EtO over the course of many years can increase the risk of blood cancers and, in women, breast cancer, the EPA says.

Cosmed Group Inc. in Franklin, Sussex County, sterilizes medical equipment with EtO. The facility installed a catalytic oxidizer in 1997 to control emissions and is "continuously monitoring emissions at the stack," the EPA says.

The ETO Sterilization-Plant #2 in Linden sterilizes agricultural commodities such as spices and nuts, according to the environmental agency.

See the EPA's maps showing residential cancer risk in each locale:

The EPA recently completed a risk assessment for communities near the approximately 100 commercial sterilizers currently operating around the nation. The assessment focused on the extra cancer risk that would occur if a person breathed air containing EtO at the level expected in a residential community near each sterilizer for a lifetime — 24 hours a day for 70 years. This is in addition to cancer risks from other causes.

The agency listed 23 communities with sterilizing facilities that contribute to an elevated cancer risk at or above 100 additional cancer cases per million people exposed — or one additional cancer case per 10,000 people exposed, the agency says.

The EPA is working with state and local partners to meet virtually in September with the Franklin and Linden communities. Visit the EPA's Franklin page and Linden page to register. The date has not yet been determined.

The development comes after an unrelated investigation into whether elevated radon levels caused cancer or brain tumors in Colonia High School alumni. Environmental scientist Al Lupiano said he found approximately 115 cases of people with cancer or brain tumors who either worked at or attended Colonia High School from 1975-1999.

The town of Woodbridge hired an outside investigator in April to test for elevated radon levels in the air at the high school. The investigation found "no such signs of radiation," Mayor John McCormac announced June 30. Read more: Colonia Brain Tumor Investigation Over, Woodbridge Mayor Says

But Lupiano, a Colonia High School alumnus, isn't so certain.

"What we were not prepared for," Lupiano told The New York Times, "was for the state to say, ‘We’re satisfied,’ after doing one simple test."