GHN, WebMD Report: Smyrna, Covington Neighborhoods Unaware Of Airborne Cancer-Causing Toxin

The Sterigenics plant sits tucked into a low-slung industrial area in Smyrna. Sterigenics and other medical sterilizers take issue with the EPA’s new risk value for ethylene oxide, which finds that the chemical can cause cancer in minuscule amounts.

This story is jointly reported by Brenda Goodman of WebMD and Andy Miller of Georgia Health News

Ann Singley was trying to muscle her lawnmower out of a ditch in front of her home in Covington when she felt a tug in her breast. It was a hard lump, and in the days after she discovered it, it didn’t go away.

It was stage 3 breast cancer. Singley, 33 at the time, was beginning what would be a long and desperate fight to survive. Her youngest child, Gene, was only 3.