Inside the City of Mississauga’s discussion of a factory using a known carcinogen

A company accused of releasing cancer-causing emissions is operating in Mississauga, Ont., under a permit that allows for self-monitoring of its air pollution. City officials appear to have only realized this after The Narwhal started asking questions about the factory — and still no level of government is currently testing its emissions.

Sterigenics specializes in sterilizing medical supplies, like respirators, using ethylene oxide. The chemical is an effective sterilant but emissions are toxic to humans in high amounts. Since 1999, the chemical has been considered to have “a probability of harm at any level of exposure” by Environment Canada and Health Canada, and has since been classified as a Schedule 1 chemical — meaning it’s definitely and highly toxic.

Sterigenics was formerly located in southwest Scarborough, Ont., from at least 2004 to 2022. Here, in late 2021, federal government researchers reported they found “detectable plumes” of ethylene oxide, which they called “a human carcinogen.” According to the researchers, the plumes spread up to 900 metres and hovered over a church, dense housing, a busy mall and a public school.

In 2022, the company moved to a factory in northeastern Mississauga, where residents and public officials alike seemed unaware of the controversial history of the company prior to The Narwhal and The Local reporting on it in May. 

As of writing, Sterigenics’ Mississauga location is not listed on the company’s online map of its 48 sterilization facilities in 13 countries, including China, Brazil and the United States, as well as two other Canadian locations, one in Port Coquitlam, B.C., and the other in Laval, Que., though it is listed on Google Maps.

Following The Narwhal and The Local’s investigation into Sterigenics, internal discussions at the City of Mississauga illustrate confusion among staff over the company’s environmental permits and how it is regulated. The discussions played out through 100 pages of email correspondence The Narwhal obtained through freedom of information requests. 

Ramani Nadarajah, a lawyer with the Canadian Environmental Law Association, has extensive experience with the permitting system, and said this correspondence was “surprising.”

“There’s a big gap in regulatory oversight,” Nadarajah said. “I don’t think there’s any question about that.”

The internal correspondence at the City of Mississauga also shows officials discussing how to present the Sterigenics story to the public using an “empathy piece” to express understanding for residents who might be concerned about harmful emissions.

“You cannot reasonably expect Mississauga residents to become aware of this issue and not demand an answer,” one resident, Kelly Singh, said. “Increasingly, we’re seeing examples where compromises are being made for the people that live here in order to further some sort of short-term goal.”

The City of Mississauga did not respond to The Narwhal’s questions about the internal discussions.

What’s the controversy around ethylene oxide and Sterigenics?

On its website, Sterigenics writes, “No generally accepted science demonstrates that low-level [ethylene oxide] exposure from Sterigenics’ facilities cause medical conditions. [Ethylene oxide] is a naturally occurring substance, unlike many other chemicals at issue in other environmental litigation.” It continues that ethylene oxide occurs in the environment “often at levels above those to which the general public is exposed to long-term from the Sterigenics facilities.”

Ethylene oxide is produced naturally, but emissions due to natural sources such as waterlogged soil are “expected to be negligible,” according to a 2003 assessment report by the federal government explaining the chemical’s designation under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. 

Sotera Health, the Ohio-based company that owns Sterigenics, has been named in a series of American lawsuits brought by claimants who say they developed illnesses, particularly cancers including leukemia, myeloma, lymphoma and breast cancer, due to ethylene oxide exposure. 

In 2023, the company agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit in Illinois, paying claimants US$408 million, where the plaintiff’s lawyers called the case “America’s Chernobyl.” Sterigenics is also paying out US$35 million in Georgia. In both instances, the company said the settlements should not be considered an “admission of liability.” In the meantime, cases in New Mexico and California are pending.

We’re investigating Ontario’s environmental cuts

The Narwhal’s Ontario bureau is telling stories you won’t find anywhere else. Keep up with the latest scoops by signing up for a weekly dose of our independent journalism.

SUBSCRIBE

We’re investigating Ontario’s environmental cuts

The Narwhal’s Ontario bureau is telling stories you won’t find anywhere else. Keep up with the latest scoops by signing up for a weekly dose of our independent journalism.

SUBSCRIBE

The company was also mired in controversy in the Netherlands, where citizens claimed illnesses due to ethylene oxide emissions. According to legal records, Sterigenics was prosecuted in the city of Zoetermeer, Netherlands, for allegedly releasing amounts of ethylene oxide that exceeded the local allowable level back in 2009 due to defective equipment. According to the public prosecutor in Zoetermeer, Sterigenics was aware of its unauthorized emissions but failed to act or warn local residents. The company claimed the emissions presented zero risk to residents and denied releasing excessive emissions of ethylene oxide.

Ultimately, the judge ruled in favour of Sterigenics. And, after years of investigation, the case came before The Hague in July 2024. While the public prosecutor argued the municipality was negligent in its enforcement of the company’s operations, the judge granted criminal immunity to the city as well, leaving citizens with little recourse after the Zoetermeer location closed in 2010.

While just under 80,000 people lived in the Mississauga ward where the factory is located as of 2021, a Sterigenics spokesperson previously told The Narwhal that “Sterigenics’ state-of-the-art Mississauga facility deploys the most advanced safety and environmental technology available and was constructed in full compliance with federal, provincial and local regulations.”

Sterigenics did not respond to The Narwhal’s questions for this story about its Mississauga facility, its emissions testing or previous lawsuits.

So, who’s checking on Sterigenics’ emissions in Mississauga?

In Ontario, the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks regulates industrial air emissions, but a two-prong regulatory system allows for some emitters to avoid more rigorous oversight.

On one hand, Environmental Compliance Approvals “allow businesses to operate with environmental controls protecting human health and the environment,” the province’s webpage on the permit reads. Controls vary based on a facility’s operations; the ministry may dictate, for example, how many days a year a company can operate or a maximum threshold for how much of a certain chemical can be used. To determine any controls, experts at the ministry review technical analyses submitted by the company.

On the other hand, the Environmental Activity and Sector Registry only requires a company to submit a nine-page checklist to the ministry’s online portal. To register air emissions, a company has to pay a fee of $2,353 and can commence operations as soon as it submits a form and is listed on the public registry. The registry was established for “less complex, lower risk” industrial activities such as “non-hazardous waste transportation” and “small ground-mounted solar facilities,” according to the ministry website.  

In response to questions from The Narwhal and The Local for the May investigation, Mississauga said Sterigenics had a provincial Environmental Compliance Approval, which the city reviewed. Shortly after this email exchange and after The Narwhal filed a freedom of information request to access Sterigenics’ Environmental Compliance Approval, the city informed The Narwhal it had responded in error.

The city said they accidentally provided information for “another company with a very similar name,” and that Sterigenics does not have an Environmental Compliance Approval, after all, and therefore the Environment Ministry did not require comment from the city for an environmental approval. 

In an email on March 27, 2024, obtained through freedom of information legislation, Mississauga’s senior communications advisor wrote to the manager of environmental site management and compliance, asking what the city’s role is if the company did not have a compliance approval, and what action they could take.

“I have a question — what role do we have if Sterigenics has not applied for an [Environmental Compliance Approval] from the [Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks]? If the info provided by the reporter is accurate and their facility may be emitting harmful substance(s) into the air, what could we be doing to prevent this?”

The manager of environmental site management and compliance responded less than an hour later, that, if there was “evidence” Sterigenics was emitting regulated chemicals into the environment without an Environmental Compliance Approval then: “any person in the public or city staff could report it to the [Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks].”

She added: “To date, no one has provided any evidence to the city that Sterigenics at this particular facility is discharging any regulated chemicals into the environment. There have been no records of complaints that we are aware of in this vicinity.”

A city representative previously told The Narwhal and The Local that it “has narrow jurisdiction and authority over environmental compliance of manufacturing companies that operate within the City of Mississauga. The City is able to regulate land use through zoning.” 

While the Ministry of Environment Conservation and Parks did not respond to The Narwhal’s detailed questions about how the province has been monitoring Sterigenics’ Mississauga location, they told CBS News in a statement that Sterigenics is registered on the province’s Environmental Activity and Sector Registry in May 2020. 

The ministry representative continued that, like all businesses on the registry, “Sterigenics was required to first assess its emissions by hiring a licensed engineering professional to prepare an emission summary and dispersion modelling report. The report indicates that emissions from Sterigenics’ Mississauga facility meet Ontario’s air standards for ethylene oxide.” 

Neither the ministry nor Sterigenics responded to The Narwhal’s questions about how the factory qualified for the less stringent regulatory option.

The ministry told CBS News it inspected the Sterigenics plant in 2022 to “assess compliance with Ontario’s environmental legislation,” including a site visit and document review.

Nadarajah, with the Canadian Environmental Law Association, told The Narwhal previously that she is concerned about the government leaving monitoring up to industry when it comes to their own emissions. Nadarajah was a lawyer for the Ministry of the Environment representing the provincial Crown in environmental prosecutions and appeals.

When the two-stream system for regulations was established in 2010, the ministry did “not appear to have any plan in place to ensure inspections and enforcement of these types of activities,” Nadarajah said. “The [Environmental Activity and Sector Registry] regime’s really a form of self-regulation. There’s really no government oversight.”

“All they have to do is simply fill out an application and simply file it on the registry and they’re good to go. There is no upfront review,” Nadarajah said. “There’s no consideration of a proactive assessment to determine where the facility is located in a residential area, or it’s next to sensitive receptors such as daycare or hospitals. None of that is really considered in the process to determine whether the facility should be allowed to operate.”

How is the City of Mississauga dealing with the controversy around Sterigenics?

After giving out the incorrect information about Sterigenics having an Environmental Compliance Approval, Mississauga’s communications director asked colleagues about the mistake in the internal emails accessed by The Narwhal: “Who provided us the wrong information the first time? We need to make some directors aware and probably legal.” 

When correcting their statement to The Narwhal, the internal emails show a senior communications advisor for the city asked: “Do we want to add an empathy piece in here or just leave it as is? I’m thinking something like: ‘We understand that some residents may have concerns about emissions from this …’ ”

And residents do have serious concerns. 

Singh was born and raised in Mississauga. She is currently the executive director of the group More Housing Mississauga and she first heard of Sterigenics being in her area when she read The Narwhal and The Local’s investigation in May. Since then, Singh said she has been having conversations about the factory within her organization and community.

When federal government researchers tested the air around Sterigenics’ Scarborough location, they said they found higher concentrations of ethylene oxide in the air around the factory than anywhere else in Toronto. But the researchers were only able to test the air there in 2021 using highly specialized air monitoring equipment rented from a company in the United States, which isn’t currently available in Canada.

While it is not mentioned in the published study, Environment and Climate Change Canada told The Narwhal it had tested the air around the Mississauga facility in 2021 and that “no ethylene oxide measurements could be traced back to that facility, and there was no information available on the status of the facility’s operation.” Sterigenics only began its operations in 2022. The agency also said in a statement that additional equipment required for monitoring that does exist in Canada is “undergoing a retrofit such that there are no immediate plans to make new measurements.” 

Ontario’s Environment Ministry told CBS News the Scarborough plant was in compliance with its regulations before its 2022 closure.

A Sterigenics spokesperson told CBS News, its “best-in-industry technologies will allow the new facility to capture and control over 99.9 [per cent] of facility [ethylene oxide] emissions, further enhancing our already safe operations.”

The City of Mississauga and Ontario’s Environment Ministry did not answer questions from The Narwhal about whether they are recommending changes for how Sterigenics’ emissions are regulated. While Health Canada is currently evaluating its risk management approach to ethylene oxide, it is unclear when the agency will publish the data it is collecting.

“As a resident, you make the right decisions in your life, you try to live a healthy lifestyle, you try to contribute in a positive way [and then you] find out that this private company is releasing chemicals into your environment that are dangerous to you, that the provincial government is generally indifferent, the municipality has very little power to do anything about it, and there’s no recourse for you as a resident,” Singh said. 

“These people who live in that area and didn’t realize what they were being exposed to, the workers in that facility … I think they deserve answers.”