Invisible Threat, Inequitable Impact
New Jersey has three commercial sterilizers. 超过716个,000 New Jerseyans (roughly 8 percent of the state population) live within five miles of them (US Census Bureau 2020).
In metropolitan New York City, just over the border in New Jersey, two sterilizers are roughly 12 miles apart—环氧乙烷灭菌 在林登和 Steris Isomedix 在南普莱恩菲尔德. The EPA identified 环氧乙烷灭菌, which sterilizes spices and nuts, as contributing to 癌症风险增加, with a maximum excess cancer risk level of 2,000 additional cases per 1 million people (EPA 2022h). The facility is within five miles of nearly 387,000 people and 350 schools and childcare centers; it is the sterilizer in the most populous community of all facilities outside of California. It is also in a community with a higher proportion of people of color, people with low income, and people with limited English language proficiency compared with the county overall.