4 Sterilization Firms Sued on Emissions of Carcinogenic Gas : Toxics: Van de Kamp charges that 3 million people may have been exposed in L.A., Orange counties. It’s broadest legal action yet under Prop. 65.

Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp on Wednesday sued four medical and food sterilization firms in Los Angeles and Orange counties, saying they have exposed an estimated 3 million people to emissions of toxic ethylene oxide, a potent carcinogen that also can cause reproductive abnormalities.

In the most sweeping lawsuits ever filed under Proposition 65, the 1986 anti-toxics measure, Van de Kamp charged that the companies failed to adequately warn the public of possible exposure to the toxic gas. Van de Kamp based his allegations on emissions figures the companies routinely file with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Van De Kamp also is seeking an injunction to stop the emissions and asking for civil penalties under California’s air toxics nuisance laws. If found guilty and fined the maximum allowed, the companies could face billions of dollars in penalties.

Some Southland residents were exposed to EtO, an odorless and colorless gas, in amounts more than 100 times higher than safety thresholds spelled out under Proposition 65, Van de Kamp said. The gas is used to kill germs on medical equipment and in food such as spices.

Plant employees and people living near nine different buildings owned by the four companies in Vernon, Long Beach, Anaheim, Irwindale and Irvine are the most likely to have been exposed to high levels of the gas, Van de Kamp said. He said the emissions date back to at least early 1988 when Proposition 65 took effect.

State officials said no health studies have been done on those groups. The cases are being referred to the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health because thousands of workers at the plants may have been exposed, Van de Kamp said. However, Van de Kamp said, if someone did get cancer who “lived within striking distance of these emitting sources, how could you ever trace it back to the source?” In any case, he said “immediate action” by the companies is imperative.

EtO has been linked to an increase in spontaneous abortions among hospital workers exposed over long periods of time, state officials said. A Swedish study on exposed workers showed a more than tenfold increase in leukemia. EtO is also known to cause tumors in lab animals. The chemical also produces genetic mutations and chromosomal aberrations in the reproductive cycle even after short-term exposure, officials said.

Statewide, 800,000 pounds of EtO are emitted each year, most of it in Southern California, causing an estimated 360 to 510 cancer cases when exposure occurs over a lifetime, state officials said.

Proposition 65’s “safe harbor” limit is two micrograms of EtO per day over an individual’s lifetime, said Deputy Atty. Gen. Edward Weil. When exposure levels are higher, he said, “you get into the significant risk area” of one death per 100,000 people, which is considered an unacceptable cancer risk.

Van de Kamp said he hopes the lawsuits will send a message to polluters who are exposing whole communities to toxics that an occasional newspaper ad or bulletin board announcement “is not enough under Proposition 65.” Some of the companies named in the lawsuit had relied on such notifications, he said.

The proposition requires “reasonable” public notice--an effort Van de Kamp said should include radio and television campaigns when so many people may be affected.

In the most serious violation, Van de Kamp said, Griffith Micro Science in Vernon in the last 2 1/2 years exposed nearly 2 million people to EtO levels as much as 104 times higher than acceptable.

In a prepared statement, Griffith Micro Science Vice President William FitzGerald said the company “leads the industry in control of EtO emissions.” He said control equipment was installed in 1987 and that additional equipment being installed this year will “eliminate 99.9% of such emissions.” Van de Kamp said the emissions data shows that another major EtO emitter, Botanicals International in Long Beach, currently is exposing about 550,000 people to levels up to 41 times beyond those deemed safe.

Botanicals International did not return phone calls from The Times on Wednesday.

Van de Kamp said that of the four companies--all of which were aware that an investigation was under way because records were subpoenaed--only Griffith Micro Science has taken any major corrective action recently. The company temporarily has closed down to install equipment to stem EtO emissions.

Van de Kamp decried the “needless health risks of cancer and birth defects” to those who were exposed. He said proven technology is readily available that removes “99.8%” of EtO from emissions and said they could have been installed long ago at all of the facilities. The devices, known as scrubbers, remove the toxic elements from the gas before it is released into the air.

“This is relatively inexpensive (equipment) in big business terms,” Van de Kamp said.

The other companies named in the lawsuits are Sterilization Services of Anaheim and Baxter Healthcare Corp.

Baxter Healthcare operates Baxter Pharmaseal division in Irwindale and has four locations under its Baxter Bently division in Irvine. Van de Kamp said the Irvine facilities recently curtailed emissions but have not installed permanent cleanup devices.

Baxter Healthcare Corp. spokesman Geoffrey Fenton said by telephone from the firm’s headquarters in Deerfield, Ill., that the company has installed emissions-control equipment in California, adding that “perhaps there are further things that can be done.” Fenton said the firm has warned the public and employees about EtO using newspaper ads and workplace education campaigns.

However, Lindsay Wagner, a 35-year-old mother of two who lives within a few blocks of the company’s Irwindale plant, said Baxter Healthcare “does a poor job of informing the community what’s going on as far as chemicals are concerned, and I am worried about the safety of my family.

“We neighbors are going to investigate just to see what is happening,” Wagner said.

Fenton said the medical equipment sterilization industry is trying to develop a safe alternative to EtO.

“We installed scrubbers in 1984, and any emissions that may be occurring may be fugitive emissions,” Fenton said. “We are very concerned with being environmentally conscientious . . . and have spent a great deal of time and money to that end.”

Fenton said the company intends to consolidate its EtO sterilization operations elsewhere by 1993.

Meanwhile, Van de Kamp said the lawsuits are only the beginning of a campaign to put public pressure on toxic polluters within California’s vast industrial complex.

“This an expanding inquiry, I have to tell you,” he said.

Times staff writers Ron Smith in Los Angeles and Marla Cone in Orange County contributed to this story.

TARGETS OF STATE LAWSUITS

Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp has filed lawsuits against four Southern California industrial companies for their release of ethylene oxide, a colorless toxic gas used to sterilize equipment, usually medical devices. The lawsuits target nine different facilities owned by the four companies in five Southland cities.

Health officials say ethylene oxide is a carcinogen and state officials adopted a regulation in May that forces companies to cut the fumes by an average of 98%. Statewide, 800,000 pounds are emitted by 650 companies per year, with most of the emissions occuring in the Los Angeles Basin. State officials estimate that 360 to 510 cancer cases could result from exposure to these current levels over a 70-year-period. These four companies (facilities located above) are some of the largest emitters of the chemical in California.

ETHYLENE OXIDE COMPANY EMITTED PER YEAR 1)Baxter Pharmaseal Division of Baxter Healthcare Corp.* One facility in Irwindale 90,827 pounds 2)Griffith Micro Science Two facilities in Vernon 128,927 pounds 3)Botanicals International One facility in Long Beach 39,000 pounds 4)Sterilization Services One facility in Anaheim 19,587 pounds 5)Baxter Bentley Laboratories Division of Baxter Healthcare Corp.* Four facilities in Irvine 17,470 pounds

* The facilities in Irwindale and Irvine are owned by the same company, Baxter Healthcare Corp.

Source: California Air Resources Board