A group of residents in Los Angeles County say they are all suffering from cancer due to a toxic chemical being released from a company in their area, according to a lawsuit.
Dora Colato, who has been living in Maywood for 25 years, is one of the plaintiffs who claim there’s a cancer cluster in their neighborhood. Colato herself completed her latest round of chemotherapy last week after being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2018.
“It's painful because … I came here to work and then I get sick,” said Colato. “Those things happen, but we have to continue.”
Colato, who says she has no family history of cancer, had essentially chalked up her diagnosis to bad luck until, she says, she received a flier from an environmental attorney named Gary Praglin.
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“We discovered that there were some people here that didn't know anything about Sterigenics’ ethylene oxide,” Praglin said.
Ethylene oxide is a chemical known to potentially cause cancer, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Sterigenics, which sterilizes medical supplies, operates six blocks away from Colato’s neighborhood in the heavily industrial city of Vernon. Praglin believes ethylene oxide emitted from the company has given at least 12 Maywood residents cancer.
“People are living literally one street over another. They don't know one another. And they've been diagnosed with cancer in the last few years. And they all have similar types of cancers that are associated with ethylene oxide: breast cancer, lymphoma, leukemia, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, that sort of thing,” Praglin said.
His firm has sued Sterigenics and affiliated companies on behalf of Colato and 12 of her neighbors. The accusations include negligence, nuisance, fraudulent concealment and wrongful death for allegedly emitting ethylene oxide.
Sterigenics has faced similar allegations in other states. The company reached a $408 million settlement in more than 800 cases against the company. As part of that settlement, Sterigenics maintained that it was not at fault.
While ethylene oxide is classified as a carcinogen by government agencies, different studies have different findings on the chemical, according to Dr. Richard Castriotta with the USC Keck School of Medicine.
“The bulk of studies — Most studies sponsored by industrial companies show little effect on people getting sick from emissions, but community research does show effects,” Castriotta explained. “There are discrepancies, I emphasize.”
In a written statement to NBC Los Angeles, Sterigenics said it is “confident that it is not responsible for causing” cancer.
“Sterigenics empathizes with anyone battling cancer,” the company said in the statement. “We operate safely to sterilize vital medical products and devices and have consistently complied with and outperformed applicable regulations regarding our emissions. We intend to vigorously defend against these claims.”
Colato, who is awaiting the end of her chemo treatments in the coming weeks, says she would breathe easier if she could move out of Maywood but lamented she does not have the resources to do so.
