A plan by the 
Donald Trump administration to rescind 2024 regulations on toxic ethylene oxide (EtO) pollution aims to limit the Environmental Protection Agency's authority to strengthen public-health protections around carcinogenic chemicals, a Harvard analysis published this week found. Recent research has determined EtO is about 60 times more carcinogenic than thought when the prior regulations were set in 2006, the Guardian reported. The 2024 rule, finalised under 
Joe Biden's EPA, would have reduced emissions at 89 facilities by requiring continuous monitoring and tighter controls on fugitive emissions.
If the EPA under Trump succeeds in rescinding the rule, nearly eight tons of the gas would continue to be released annually in largely low-income neighbourhoods, the Guardian reported, and the agency would have to wait at least 17 years before strengthening the standard again. The rescission would save companies $47m annually, and the agency has stopped calculating cancer-cost figures, leaving the societal burden unclear.
EtO is a flammable, colourless gas used to sterilise about 20 billion medical devices each year — including pacemakers and syringes — and some foods, and is linked to leukemia and other cancers. "This sends up a signal flare to everyone that we've got a real threat, and that the administration plans to gut cancer protections," Erik Olson, a senior adviser at the Natural Resources Defense Council, told the Guardian. The NRDC is a plaintiff in a separate lawsuit over the chemical.
The Clean Air Act requires the EPA to conduct a residual-risk review of toxic chemicals within eight years of their designation as hazardous, and the 2024 update was the agency's first review since the original 1994 EtO standard. The Harvard report describes the broader administration strategy as a rollback "of a wide array of controls on toxic chemicals and, particularly, carcinogens."
Figures referenced: Donald Trump, Joe Biden. — JudgeMarket.
