Charleston woman files lawsuit against Dow Chemical, local hospitals for ethylene oxide exposure

A local woman has filed lawsuit against Dow Chemical and others, saying "reckless negligence" lead to ethylene oxide exposure and cancer.Photo byGMSV

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A Kanawha Valley woman has filed a lawsuit against Dow Chemical, its subsidiary Union Carbide, Bayer Crop Science LP and other local companies, claiming their use of ethylene oxide lead to her cancer.

Cathy Darlene Flint, of Charleston, filed the lawsuit in Kanawha County last week. In the lawsuit, Flint alleges she was forcibly exposed to the chemical ethylene oxide "due to the defendants' reckless negligence in producing, storing and using the chemical."

A press release announcing the lawsuit says Flint lived for more than 30 years directly across from a Union Carbide plant. The plant used the compound in its manufacturing processes, lawyers say, and Flint was forced to inhale the ethylene oxide gas that spread into her community.

"Ethylene oxide is odorless, colorless and everywhere," Stuart Calwell, an attorney with Charleston-based Calwell Luce diTrapano PLLC, said in a statement. Calwell represents Flint in the lawsuit.

"Cathy Flint and hundreds of other local residents have unwittingly spent decades inhaling harmful amounts of ethylene oxide, simply by living at home, spending time in their yards, walking along the riverbank or neighborhood streets and boating on the Kanawha River."

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) warns against acute exposure to the chemical, saying it can result in respiratory problems, headaches, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and more. An ethylene oxide fact sheet on OSHA's website cautions, "Chronic exposure has been associated with the occurrence of cancer, reproductive effects, mutagenic changes, neurotoxicity, and sensitization."

Flint currently has multiple myeloma, an incurable cancer of the plasma cells. According to information provided by the Mayo Clinic, when these cancerous plasma cells build up in bone marrow, they crowd out healthy blood cells and make proteins that don't work right, leading to complications.

The Mayo Clinic says that the ultimate cause of myeloma is not clear.

Calwell believes that in his client's case, the myeloma was caused by unwanted exposure to ethylene oxide.

"And the exposure continues to this very day," Calwell said.

The Environmental Protection Agency's online Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool indicates some areas of the Kanawha Valley -- including the area around Flint's home -- fall within the 95th to 100th percentile of Air Toxics Cancer Risks.

Flint is seeking an unspecified amount of damages.

In addition to Dow Chemical, Union Carbide and Bayer Crop Science, several local healthcare providers -- including Vandalia Health Systems, Inc., which operates the Charleston Area Medical Center, and Thomas Health System Inc., which operates WVU Medicine Thomas Hospitals in South Charleston -- are also named in the lawsuit.