A joint investigation by Atlanta News First and Grist uncovered dozens of people who worked at a metro Atlanta warehouse who claimed in a lawsuit their former employer exposed them to a cancer-causing toxin for years.

Many of the former workers now suffer from severe illness. At least four have died. The warehouse is located in Lithia Springs, Georgia. It’s owned by the ConMed Corporation, which stores medical devices sterilized with ethylene oxide, a hazardous, colorless gas.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says prolonged exposure to the toxin causes cancer and tumors.

According to a Cobb County lawsuit, the process starts at a sterilization facility owned by Sterigenics located near Smyrna, Georgia. According to the company’s website, it sterilized “more than 300 million critical medical products and devices” with the gas at its facility since April 2020.

The sterilized products are then trucked 12 miles away to ConMed’s nearly 300,000-square-foot warehouse, a facility the size of five football fields.

While there, the remaining ethylene oxide seeps off the boxes of medical equipment that have been treated with the chemical, allegedly exposing workers.

Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/02/29/cancer-stricken-workers-claim-company-exposed-them-toxic-gas/