Students, staff and community members met at Grand Valley State University Friday to discuss the latest results of an air quality study. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogen, or a cancer causing agent. The chemical is used at Viant Medical - a local company that makes medical devices - and it’s used to sterilize heat-sensitive medical instruments. While Viant says they clean the products six times, the chemical can still linger in the air.
That’s why in January the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality launched an investigation into how much of the chemical is contaminating the surrounding neighborhood.
Just across the street at Grand Valley State University’s Pew Campus, health officials gathered Friday to discuss the presence of the chemical and how much the community should worry about long-term effects.
George McBane is a chemistry professor at GVSU. He says while they’re higher for West Siders, the amount of emissions present on campus are not enough to worry about a long-term risk for cancer.
“The lifetime risk for the West Side residents comes out about 15 in 10,000 whereas our GVSU risks are about 2 in 100,000,” McBane said.
However, that answer didn’t ease the fears for some.
Anna Walz is a marketing professor at GVSU and works in the Seidman College of Business. Diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017, doctors couldn’t determine the direct source of her illness. And she wasn’t alone. Walz says her boss had been diagnosed with multiple myeloma around the same time.
“It’s horribly hard, not because I’m certain that this caused my cancer, or that I’m super mad at Viant, or I’m frustrated with Grand Valley, because those aren’t the feelings I have at all,” Walz said. “It’s just hard to sit and think about there’s a chance it could have been prevented.” (4:00)
According to GVSU, additional testing concluded last week. The results will be shared later this month.