By: Patrice Tomcik, Senior National Field Director
Date: April 1, 2026
About: EPA-HQ-OAR-2019-178 - Urging EPA to Reject Proposal to Weaken Ethylene Oxide Emission Protections
To: Environmental Protection Agency
My name is Patrice Tomcik, and I’m the National Field Director for Moms Clean Air Force—a community of more than 1.6 million parents united to protect our children from air pollution. I live in Butler County, Southwestern Pennsylvania, with my family.
I’m here today to urge the EPA to reject this proposal to weaken protections against ethylene oxide emissions from commercial sterilizers. Just two years ago, the agency took an important, science-based step to keep families safe from this dangerous chemical. This proposal moves us backward—away from protecting public health and our children.
Ethylene oxide is a potent carcinogen. It damages DNA and increases the risk of cancers like lymphoma and leukemia. Even at extremely low levels, it is harmful. Children are especially vulnerable—their bodies are still developing, and they breathe more air relative to their size. I understand the devastation leukemia can have on a child’s little body—my son was diagnosed at age three and endured three years of chemotherapy. For children living near these facilities, every breath carries risk. I’m here to protect those children.
American Contract Systems is located about five miles from my home and has applied for a pollution exemption. The facility uses an estimated 80 pounds of ethylene oxide per month. Earlier EPA assessments identified the nearby community of Zelienople as facing elevated cancer risks, prompting local action and installation of pollution controls. EPA has said stronger standards could further reduce these risks—but only if fully implemented and enforced. In the meantime, nearby communities—and even those of us several miles away—face uncertainty about ongoing exposure and long-term health impacts.
The 2024 standards were designed to reduce these risks. Administrator Zeldin’s proposal would roll back those protections and allow significantly more ethylene oxide into our air. EPA’s own analysis shows it could raise cancer risks near these facilities up to 60 times higher than what the agency has long considered acceptable. It could put at least 85,000 more people above that risk threshold and expose more than 38 million Americans beyond EPA’s health goal. Families are being asked to bear this burden simply because of where they live.
Moms Clean Air Force represents parents nationwide, with state chapters in Arizona, Colorado, California, Georgia, Iowa, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, and West Virginia—almost all with at least one sterilizer. Moms and dads are saying loud and clear: no child’s health should ever be treated as expendable.
Strong monitoring and accountability are essential. The 2024 rule required direct, continuous emissions monitoring to ensure facilities are controlling pollution. Zeldin’s proposal weakens that approach, allowing facilities to estimate emissions instead of measuring them. It also removes requirements to fully capture fugitive emissions—the emissions that pose the greatest risk to nearby communities.
Without strong monitoring and containment, families are left in the dark about what they are breathing. Parents cannot protect their children from a toxic chemical they cannot see or measure. Communities deserve clear, accurate, real-time information about pollution in their neighborhoods.
More than 14 million people in the U.S. live within five miles of commercial sterilizer facilities. These are families like mine who rely on EPA to ensure the air we breathe is safe. Rolling back these protections would increase cancer risk for children and families.
Moms Clean Air Force believes every child has the right to breathe clean air. It is EPA’s responsibility to protect that right. This proposal fails to do so.
I urge the EPA to uphold the stronger 2024 protections, maintain robust monitoring requirements, and prioritize the health of children.
No parent should have to wonder if the air their child is breathing will make them sick.
Thank you.