Ethylene Oxide Attorney in Lakewood, Colorado

Terumo BCT: A Different Corporate Profile Than Sterigenics

Terumo BCT is a subsidiary of Terumo Corporation, a Japanese medical device company with over $6 billion in annual revenue. Unlike Sterigenics, which operates as a contract sterilization company, Terumo BCT uses EtO to sterilize its own blood processing and cell therapy equipment. This corporate structure gives Terumo BCT a defense narrative centered on the medical necessity of its products — arguing that its sterilization operations are essential to the blood supply and cannot simply be relocated or shut down.

However, plaintiffs' attorneys have countered that Terumo BCT chose to locate its EtO operations in a densely populated Lakewood neighborhood and that alternative sterilization technologies (such as electron beam or vaporized hydrogen peroxide) could replace EtO for many product categories. The defense verdict in the 2024 trial was closely contested, and attorneys analyzing the outcome have identified juror confusion about EPA risk modeling as a key factor — suggesting that future trials with improved expert presentation could yield different results.

Colorado Regulatory Environment and the Defense Verdict

Colorado's Air Quality Control Commission has imposed monitoring requirements on EtO facilities, but the state has not enacted the type of aggressive emission reduction legislation seen in Illinois and Georgia. This regulatory gap has allowed Terumo BCT to argue that its facility operates within all applicable legal limits — a defense that resonated with the 2024 jury. Plaintiffs responded that regulatory compliance does not equate to safety, particularly when the applicable regulations were set before the EPA's 2016 reclassification of EtO as a far more potent carcinogen than previously understood.

Colorado's two-year statute of limitations for personal injury (with a discovery rule) and the state's modified comparative fault system (50% bar rule) create additional litigation considerations. Claimants must demonstrate that Terumo BCT's negligence was at least as great as any fault attributed to other parties, and the statute of limitations begins to run when the plaintiff discovered or reasonably should have discovered the connection between their cancer and EtO exposure from the Lakewood facility.