Ethylene Oxide Explosion Investigation

ST. PAUL: There are a series of cancer deaths, involving people who worked in the same building. FOX 9 investigators examine what’s behind a worker’s compensation claim filed against a major Minnesota corporation.
Twelve men and women were ravaged by cancer. The twelve had something else in common. At some point in their careers were the same.

Each had worked in an inconspicuous looking building on the east side of St. Paul. It doesn’t have a name, just a number: building 27.

Former workers of building 27 are haunted with a nagging question. They wonder if they were exposed to something in there that could eventually kill them.

There are two letters from 3M who is the owner of building 27.

One of them, dated February 7th 1989 from a company vice president, had arrived by certified mail.

It said: “3M has learned of several incidences of cancer among medical products division employees who worked in building 27 in the late 60s and early 70s. The employees who contracted cancer all might have been exposed to the chemical ethylene oxide.” Wally Fox remembers getting a letter in 1989.

The chemical ethylene oxide is used to sterilize hospital supplies.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, leukemia and other cancers have been reported by workers exposed to it.

The U.S. Department of Health says, “ethylene oxide may reasonably be anticipated to be a human carcinogen.”

Former workers of building 27 tell the FOX 9 investigators that back in the 60s and 70s, leaky canisters of ethylene oxide were stored in the building.

But at the time, it was not considered harmful, and no special precautions were required. One former worker remembers moving canisters that were dripping.

The wife of another worker who later died of cancer says in the early days her husband “wallowed” in chemicals.

The workers who got the letters back in 1989 were offered a free medical exam at the time. 3M says researchers found “no association between work place exposure and the health of building 27 employees.”

3M declined FOX 9’s request for an on camera interview. It issued a statement saying the company is committed to a safe work environment.

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