Across California and the U.S., thousands of employees working in sterilization facilities, medical device distribution centers, and other industrial environments are exposed to a chemical that poses significant long-term health risks. Ethylene oxide (EtO) is used to sterilize nearly half of the medical devices in healthcare, making it indispensable. Yet the mounting evidence of its danger to those who handle it can no longer be dismissed.

What makes this especially alarming is that the risk does not stop at the facility fence. In California, emissions from EtO sterilization plants drift into surrounding neighborhoods, reaching schools, childcare centers, and homes. Many of these facilities are located near lower-income communities and communities of color, and as a result, Latino workers and families are often among those most heavily exposed. For these communities, this is not an abstract policy debate. It is a matter of environmental justice, public health, and the basic right to a safe workplace and a safe neighborhood.