Trump Administration Moves to Rescind 2024 Ethylene Oxide Emission Rules

The Trump administration has proposed rescinding regulations issued in 2024 that tightened controls on ethylene oxide emissions from commercial sterilizers and other facilities. The 2024 rule required the nation's emitters to cut emissions by about 90 percent after research found ethylene oxide is roughly 60 times more carcinogenic than believed when standards were last updated in 2006.

A Harvard Environmental and Energy Law Program analysis released on the current date details the administration's legal position. The approach would limit the Environmental Protection Agency's ability to strengthen rules for hazardous air pollutants when new evidence shows they are more dangerous than previously thought.

If the plan succeeds, nearly 8 tons of the gas would continue to be released annually, primarily in low-income neighborhoods. Ethylene oxide is a colorless, flammable gas used to sterilize about 20 billion medical devices each year, including pacemakers and syringes.

It is also employed in some food processing. The chemical is linked to leukemia and other health issues when inhaled. About 2.3 million people live near facilities that emit the gas.

The Environmental Protection Agency first set emission standards for ethylene oxide in 1994 and completed a required residual risk review in 2006. Officials interpreted the Clean Air Act as allowing such additional reviews to address public health. The current administration argues that statutory silence on further reviews means the agency lacks authority to act again.

The Harvard paper states this would represent a permanent change limiting future updates to hazardous air pollutant standards. The Clean Air Act requires an eight-year technical review of best available technology but does not directly revisit health risks in that process.

The proposed rescission would save companies an estimated $47 million annually. The administration has stopped calculating costs associated with potential increases in cancer cases. The 2024 rule would have applied to 89 facilities through requirements for continuous monitoring and controls on fugitive emissions that escape from piping and equipment.

Chemicals are generally approved with limited initial review of industry safety claims. It can take independent research decades to identify true risks, as occurred with ethylene oxide. The Harvard analysis states the administration's action forms part of a broader effort to roll back controls on toxic chemicals and carcinogens.

A separate lawsuit challenges the administration's use of a rarely invoked Clean Air Act provision to exempt about half of commercial medical sterilizers from ethylene oxide standards. The exemption cites national security or unavailable technology, though supporting evidence has not been detailed publicly.

The outcome could also affect proposed rules for two other chemicals. The agency is required to conduct residual risk reviews every eight years after designating a pollutant as hazardous. The 2024 updates followed that cycle but went further by incorporating the revised carcinogenicity assessment.