Excellence in Science/Environment/Health Reporting
ABOUT THE WORK: There’s no good reason why the carcinogenic compound ethylene oxide is not infamous. It’s used to sterilize half of all medical equipment in the United States — and it’s also responsible for 50 percent of the country’s excess cancer risk resulting from industrial pollution. The Environmental Protection Agency considers it the second-most-toxic of all the substances that it regulates.
And yet most Americans have never heard of it.
In a groundbreaking investigation, Grist senior staff writers Naveena Sadasivam and Lylla Younes spent a year uncovering how ethylene oxide poses a threat at every step of its supply chain.
Grist copublished this final story in partnership with El Paso Matters, which serves a readership directly exposed to two of these facilities. They sent postcards to every household living within 1 mile of the El Paso warehouses, made fact sheets about ethylene oxide, distributed both digitally and in-person, hosted community conversations, and created a guide for journalists on how to report on ethylene oxide in their own communities. Grist’s investigation spurred workers to connect dots between ethylene oxide and diagnoses like breast cancer that had previously mystified their doctors. It prompted follow-up from reporters in North Carolina, California, and Minnesota.
Naveena Sadasivam is a writer and editor at Grist covering the oil and gas industry and climate change. She previously worked at the Texas Observer, Inside Climate News, and ProPublica and is based in Oakland, California.
Honorable Mention: Sixue (Amy) Qin, Keerthi Gopal, “Lead City” (1/2/3), WBEZ Chicago, Inside Climate News, Grist
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