Neighbors, elected officials want investigations into B. Braun’s emissions as a cancer risk

Jon Irons lives in a Bethlehem neighborhood, near the border of Hanover Township, that has a cancer risk nearly four times greater than the state average, largely because of a chemical released into the air by medical device-maker B. Braun.

"It's very unsettling," he said.

Ethylene oxide, a colorless gas used to sterilize medical equipment, has been linked to breast cancer, lymphomas, leukemia and stomach cancer. And thousands of pounds of the chemical are released into the air each year by B. Braun's plant in Hanover Township, Lehigh County. Like Irons, many people in the area were unaware of the pollution until The Morning Call published data last month from a government report.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency noted the elevated risk in its data on toxic air pollution last year but did not publicize the findings.

Since The Morning Call story, some have called on government to see that the emissions are significantly reduced. But there has been no public outcry as was seen in Illinois, when community outrage prompted the state to effectively suspend operations at Sterigenics, a medical device company in Willowbrook, for months for ethylene oxide emissions that were about 50% less than B. Braun in 2016, the latest year with available data from the EPA.

Irons, a community activist, said he's frustrated with the response from political leaders.

"The action needs to be more urgent," he said. "If there's this elevated risk and we're seeing cancer risk increase and we know ethylene oxide is a known carcinogen, we need to make sure we're being as safe as possible. I don't see that happening.

Elected officials — including Hanover Township Council members, U.S. Rep. Susan Wild, state Sen. Lisa Boscola, and state Rep. Jeanne McNeill — said they've heard from a handful of residents who called or emailed their concerns about the pollution.

In a prepared statement, Hanover Township Council members said they rely on state and federal regulatory agencies to set the emissions rules. They pointed out that the company was within its right to emit thousands of pounds of ethylene oxide.

"There's not that much that we can do," said Hanover Council Chairman Bruce Paulus. "We're going to keep an eye on it, of course."

B. Braun has broken no laws in its ethylene oxide emissions, which from 2008 to 2015 increased from about 1,900 pounds to 7,600 pounds, according to EPA data. The company is permitted to release up to 20,000 pounds of the gas per year, said Colleen Connolly, a spokeswoman with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. Since 2015, when B. Braun emitted 7,600 pounds of ethylene oxide, emissions have decreased each year to 4,660 pounds in 2018, according to the company and the EPA.

"B. Braun's highest priority is the health and safety of our employees, our community, and millions of patients who depend on our medical products," Caroll H. Neubauer, chairman and CEO of B. Braun Medical Inc. in Bethlehem, where the company has its U.S. headquarters, told The Morning Call last month. "We would not operate our facility if we believed our operations created an unsafe environment for our employees or our neighbors.

Hanover Township Council members and a representative from Boscola's office met with B. Braun officials on July 19, and were told the company is doing its best to reduce emissions, Paulus said.

The township issued a news release that day, saying, "B. Braun has confirmed that it has always operated within regulatory limits for release of ethylene oxide from its Hanover Township facility. Over the last three years, it has been reducing its release each year, and it intends to continue such reductions in the future."

Additionally, representatives from the DEP met with B. Braun on July 31 to discuss the company's operations and emission control systems, said B. Braun spokeswoman Allison Longenhagen.

The EPA changed its view on ethylene oxide in recent years. In the last decade, research has shown a stronger connection between the chemical and cancer, prompting the agency in 2016 to change ethylene oxide's classification from probable human carcinogen to human carcinogen.

There's no national or Pennsylvania limit on ethylene oxide emissions, but companies need a state permit to emit a ton or more and must have a system to vent the chemical. The EPA set ethylene oxide emission standards in 1994 and are expected to update them this year.

Wild, D-7th District, said she is meeting with B. Braun representatives Aug. 19 to discuss the emissions and ask about alternative sterilizers and other processes that could reduce them.

She's also asked the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study the pollution's effect on public health and has co-sponsored legislation that would require the EPA to better monitor polluters and keep more up-to-date cancer risk data.

While some constituents are calling for swift action, she said, the issue can't be resolved easily.

"People do deserve to have relief as soon as possible. The problem we're going to face is that there are some medical devices that can only be sterilized with this type of chemical. Although, we have heard that in other contexts there aren't alternatives, to later find out there are alternatives. We can't be solving one person's health problem at the expense of another developing a health problem," she said.

McNeill, D-Lehigh, and Democrat U.S. Sen. Bob Casey called on state and federal agencies to investigate the pollution around B. Braun's plant and ensure the public is protected.

McNeill said she has friends and family, including her daughters, who live near the plant.

"I am deeply concerned about this," she said. "I don't want to alarm anyone, but I also don't want to make it smaller than it is."

Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey issued a statement calling B. Braun, which employs about 2,000 people in the Lehigh Valley, "an outstanding corporate citizen." He noted that the company's ethylene oxide emissions fall below permissible limits. Toomey cited B. Braun's chief medical officer saying that "relevant cancer rates in the region around B. Braun's [Hanover Township] facility are comparable to, or lower than, the rates in other areas of Pennsylvania."

Toomey said he has requested a full briefing from the EPA on ethylene oxide emission. "I am hopeful," he added, "that impacted stakeholders and federal regulators can work together in a way that addresses air quality and patient safety while being mindful of the essential role this chemical plays in the sterilization of medical devices..

Ethylene oxide pollution has raised cancer risks for more than half a million people across the country, according to a Chicago Tribune analysis of EPA data.

The risks weren't widely known until political leaders and community advocates in Illinois raised alarms about the EPA's 2018 cancer risk analysis. A county health department there worked with communities to independently monitor the air for toxic pollutants after the report was released and a local study was conducted.

Earlier this year, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency ordered Sterigenics to stop using ethylene oxide, halting operations. In July, the state and the company announced an agreement to reopen the facility that required the company to reduce emissions to 85 pounds a year.

In Georgia, about a week after Georgia Health News and WebMD published a report on ethylene oxide pollution, the state's environmental agency announced a plan to reduce emissions at two facilities, including a Sterigenics plant in Smyrna.

In the Lehigh Valley, people living near the plant on Marcon Boulevard expressed shock and anger on social media after The Morning Call reported on the EPA data.

Connie Burns, who lives a few miles from the plant, said she felt angry and helpless after learning about her increased cancer risk. She counted the number of cancer cases she knew of in her neighborhood: brain, prostate, lung, breast and stomach cancers. The latter two are associated with ethylene oxide pollution.

"Who knew there was something in the air? Who knew they were emitting this stuff in the air? Nobody knew anything," Burns said.

Irons, who lives near Burns, said community groups need to organize better and put more pressure on elected officials to see that something gets done.

"I see the calls for studies. It's not leadership," he said. "It's the bare minimum."