What is Ethylene Oxide? How does EO affect health?

Ethylene oxide (EO) with the chemical formula C2H4O is widely used as an agent for sterilizing supplies and equipment in the medical, healthcare, pharmaceutical and veterinary industries. Some processed foods also contain this chemical to prevent mold and spoilage.

Is ethylene oxide dangerous?

Because of its ability to damage DNA, ethylene oxide is widely used as an effective disinfectant. But because of that, it can also potentially cause cancer, gene mutations when exposed regularly. Due to many concerns about the health problems caused by ethylene oxide in humans, the US and European Food Administration also have many recommendations about this substance.

How is Ethylene Oxide Used?

Ethylene oxide also has other names such as: Alkene Oxide, Dimethylene Oxide, EO, ETO, Oxane, Dihydroxirene, Oxacyclopropane, Oxirane.

Ethylene oxide gas (also known as EO or EtO) is widely used as an agent for sterilizing supplies and equipment in the medical, healthcare, pharmaceutical and veterinary industries.

EO is used to disinfect, preserve long-term storage.

Because of its ability to damage DNA, ethylene oxide is widely used as an effective disinfectant. But because of that, it can also potentially cause cancer, gene mutations when exposed regularly. Due to many concerns about the health problems caused by ethylene oxide in humans, the US and European Food Administration also have many recommendations about this substance.

Ethylene oxide (EO) has good permeability, penetrating through materials such as paper, plastic, fabric. In addition, this gas also has the ability to eliminate almost all viruses, bacteria and fungi, preventing them from reproducing, so it is very popular in disinfecting and preserving items that need to be stored for a long time. Don't worry about mold.

EO is also used to produce household chemicals. In industry mainly used to make ethylene glycol - antifreeze and polyester.

Small amounts of ethylene oxide are used in insecticides and insecticides.

Ethylene oxide is also an ingredient in textiles, detergents, solvents and adhesives.

Some countries allow the use of ethylene oxide for insect control purposes in some agricultural products, and for food disinfection.

How are humans exposed to EO?

Ethylene oxide is a fairly common substance in many consumer and industrial products. Therefore, humans can be exposed to EO mainly through the air (inhalation) and ingestion (food, drink).

In addition, it is possible to be directly exposed to EO gas if a worker works directly with this gas.

People can be exposed to tobacco smoke and use products that have been sterilized by EO such as medical products, cosmetics, food (from processed foods, foods that need to be preserved, etc.). For a long time, the food does not control the amount of pesticides, chemicals used .).

When is EO likely to cause cancer?

EO is classified by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) as a mutagenic, carcinogenic and sterility toxic substance. There is no quantifiable extent to which exposure to EO poses a risk to human health.

Consumption of food containing EO does not pose an acute health hazard but increases the risk of harm to health if EO-contaminated food is consumed in large quantities and for a long period of time.

Acute poisoning causes local reactions

Inhaling high levels of EO by workers can lead to acute reactions such as: Nausea, vomiting, neurological disorders, bronchitis, pulmonary edema, and emphysema.

Skin or eye contact with EO solution causes skin and eye irritation in humans.

Tests involving acute exposure in animals have shown that EO is highly acutely toxic if inhaled.

Chronic poisoning can cause many diseases

The California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) has established a chronic inhalation exposure of 0.03mg/m3) to EO based on effects on the nervous system in rats. The CalEPA reference exposure level is a concentration equal to or below the unlikely adverse health effect. It is not a direct risk estimator, but rather a reference point for assessing potential impacts. At lifetime exposures that are increasingly larger than reference exposures, the potential for adverse health effects increases.

Accordingly, the mean minimum risk level (MRL) is 0.2 mg/m3. The MRL is an estimate of a person's daily exposure to a toxic substance, which may not pose a cancer risk, but has significant adverse health effects over a specific period of exposure. The exposure period for an intermediate MRL ranges from a few weeks to a year.

If exposed to EO for several years (workers working in EO environments), in addition to cancer, the chronic health problems EO can cause are: Eye, skin, respiratory tract irritation and chronic nervous system effects (eg, headache, nausea, memory loss, numbness).

Various reproductive effects have been observed in animal inhalation exposure studies, including a decrease in the number of implantation sites, a decrease in testicular weight and sperm concentration, and testicular degeneration.