The Trump administration is moving to rescind Environmental Protection Agency regulations implemented in 2024 that strengthened controls on ethylene oxide pollution, according to recent analysis. The regulations targeted emissions of ethylene oxide, a toxic gas used in industrial processes.

The 2024 rule, implemented during the Biden administration, required facilities that emit ethylene oxide to collectively reduce their emissions by approximately 90%. The regulation was designed to address updated scientific research on the health risks posed by the chemical.

Recent scientific studies have determined that ethylene oxide is significantly more carcinogenic than previously understood. Current research indicates the chemical is about 60 times more cancer-causing than scientists believed when the last major regulations were developed in 2006.

The planned rollback would affect the EPA's regulatory framework for controlling hazardous air pollutants. Environmental health experts have indicated that reversing the 2024 regulations could result in increased emissions of the toxic compound into the atmosphere.

Ethylene oxide is commonly used in sterilizing medical equipment and manufacturing certain plastics. Industrial facilities across the United States emit the chemical during various production processes, with communities near these facilities facing potential exposure to the airborne toxin.