‘One down, and more to go’ as polluter closes in South Memphis
South Memphis residents were celebrating Tuesday as Sterilization Services of Tennessee left its home of nearly 50 years.
There are 15 article(s) tagged Sterilization Services of Tennessee:
South Memphis residents were celebrating Tuesday as Sterilization Services of Tennessee left its home of nearly 50 years.
After decades of toxic emissions and nearly two years of community pressure on the company, Sterilization Services of Tennessee is leaving its South Memphis facility.
The attorney representing Sterilization Services said in a recent letter that the company will leave its Florida Street facility before next May.
Anita Albury was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017. Now, she’s one of seven people suing a southwest Memphis business.
Ethylene oxide, or EtO, has been on the community’s radar since the Environmental Protection Agency identified a Florida Street business as one of 23 high-risk polluters.
“Community members shouldn’t have to wait years for relief. Instead of making excuses and dodging questions, the Shelby County Health Department needs to act now to make the facility reduce its emissions or — if it continues to refuse — shut down completely.”
“The residents of the neighborhoods surrounding Sterilization Services of Tennessee already face more than their fair share of adverse health, social and environmental conditions compared to many other parts of Shelby County.”
The County Commission vote approves a nonbinding piece of legislation, but it’s a show of support for residents and groups such as Memphis Community Against Pollution.
The Shelby County Health Department commissioned the cancer cluster study last fall to learn about historical cancer rates in a South Memphis neighborhood.
A small, but patient, group of South Memphis residents concerned about a cancer-causing pollutant in their neighborhood waited five hours to address the Shelby County Board of Commissioners yesterday.
When a study last year looked at how much of cancer-causing chemical was seeping into the air, and potentially harming local residents, it used standards better suited to indoor air quality and workers in protective equipment.
By looking at the cumulative lifetime cancer risk from individual pollutants scientists can glean how much one chemical is contributing to overall risk.
“What we’re doing here is asking them to initiate those same interventions that they’re putting in their other sites across the country and not wait for the EPA,” said Memphis City Council member Jeff Warren.
The EPA included Memphis’ Sterilization Services of Tennessee on a list of high-risk facilities in August, but a pending lawsuit says the agency is moving too slowly; the Memphis City Council is also considering what actions it can take.
Residents who live near the Sterilization Services of Tennessee facility in South Memphis have a lifetime cancer risk of 100 in a million from EtO exposure, according to the EPA.
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