Ethylene Oxide Attorney in Covington, Georgia

BD's Covington Facility and the Georgia EtO Litigation

Becton Dickinson's Covington sterilization facility has been a focal point of Georgia's ethylene oxide litigation outside the Sterigenics cases. The BD facility uses EtO to sterilize medical devices, and EPA data has identified the surrounding Newton County community as facing cancer risk levels that significantly exceed the agency's benchmark of 100 in one million. Over 402 personal injury lawsuits have been filed by Covington-area residents who developed cancers consistent with EtO exposure, including lymphomas, breast cancers, and leukemias.

The 2025 jury verdict of $70 million against BD marked a critical inflection point. This verdict demonstrated that Georgia juries are willing to impose substantial damages on EtO emitters beyond Sterigenics — extending liability to the broader sterilization industry. BD has disclosed the litigation as a material risk in its SEC filings, signaling that the company's own financial advisors view the exposure as significant.

How BD Litigation Differs from Sterigenics

While Sterigenics litigation in Illinois and Georgia focused on a company whose primary business was contract sterilization, BD is a Fortune 500 medical device manufacturer that uses EtO sterilization as part of its vertically integrated supply chain. This distinction matters in litigation because BD has argued that its sterilization operations are essential to public health — a defense that Sterigenics, as a pure-play sterilizer, could not credibly raise. However, courts have generally held that the necessity of a product does not immunize the manufacturer from liability for negligent emissions.

The $70 million verdict also has implications for BD's facility in Sandy, Utah, where similar claims are emerging. Plaintiffs' attorneys are leveraging the Georgia verdict to establish BD's corporate knowledge of EtO risks as a pattern applicable to all BD sterilization facilities nationwide.