“The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is proposing raising the acceptable threshold for long-term exposure to ethylene oxide,” reports Perla Trevizo.

Ethylene oxide, she writes, is “a toxic gas believed to be responsible for some of the highest cancer risks in the country — particularly in east Harris County, where its production is concentrated.”

But Elena Craft, senior director for climate and health at Environmental Defense Fund, tells Trevizo, “We know these compounds cause cancer, [so] why would we establish the least protective health threshold we think we can get away with, when the implication is that millions more people might get cancer because of it?”

Read the entire article here ...

Share this article