Protect Southern communities from cancer-causing pollution

Tell Congress to stop EPA from weakening protections for cancer-causing pollution.

The Trump administration is putting Southern communities’ health and clean air at risk by giving industry a pass to pollute, including commercial sterilizer facilities that release a cancer-causing chemical.

Ethylene oxide (EtO) is an extremely toxic chemical mostly used to sterilize medical equipment. In 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency strengthened regulations on ethylene oxide air pollution from commercial sterilization facilities based on scientific studies that it is 60 times more toxic than previously thought. The Trump administration is now working to weaken these federal safeguards that lower cancer risks for people living near sterilizer facilities by more than 90 percent.

Commercial sterilizers are often located near residential neighborhoods, schools, and places of worship, and disproportionately harm communities of color and people living below the poverty line.

Join SELC and our faith and community partners across the South and tell our Congressional representatives to stand up for our health and clean air and urge EPA not to weaken federal safeguards that reduce ethylene oxide pollution and cancer risks.

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