Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti has led a coalition of 20 state attorneys general in commenting on the latest proposal from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on regulations regarding Ethylene Oxide (EtO) and related emissions standards promulgated under the Clean Air Act (CAA).
General Skrmetti today led a coalition of 20 state AGs in commenting on proposed EPA regulations regarding Ethylene Oxide (EtO). Read more: https://t.co/yonHQewJO5 pic.twitter.com/D1lM1TlTKY
— TN Attorney General (@AGTennessee) June 27, 2023
EtO, Skrmetti’s office explains, is “used to sterilize roughly 20 billion medical devices annually and there are no substitutes.”
If the agency moves forward with regulating the gas, Skrmetti’s office notes, it could “severely negatively impact the medical device supply chain and provision of healthcare in the United States.”
In a press release, the EPA announced that it is “reviewing and updating its current regulations under the CAA that limit the amount of EtO certain types of industries release into the outdoor air to determine whether legal standards for EtO emissions to air can be further strengthened.”
EPA added that addressing EtO is a “priority” for the agency.
In response to the EPA’s proposed regulations, Skrmetti and the coalition signed a comment letter urging the EPA to forgo or defer them, citing that the proposed regulations, if adopted, would “force the adoption of new, untested technologies to sterilize medical devices.”
“To avoid disruption to healthcare across the country, EPA should forgo the proposed regulations or extend the compliance period,” the attorneys general wrote.
“These proposed regulations will significantly reduce the nation’s capacity to sterilize medical devices,” Skrmetti said in a statement. “If the administration moves forward with this proposal, the shortage of available medical devices will hurt both patients and health care professionals.”
State attorneys general from Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia joined Skrmetti in signing the comment letter.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
