Laredo cancer cases raise questions about ethylene oxide exposure

By Olivia Biggs, Avery Foster, Callaghan Mitchell & David Perez | Edited by Mariano Castillo & Rodrigo Cervantes

LAREDO, Texas — The Nevares family home is a lively space, with kittens milling about and happiness in the air. It’s a feeling the family had to fight for, following a devastating leukemia diagnosis for their youngest son seven years ago.

Not far from them lives Xavier Ortiz, a hardworking man who wants to provide for his family but is hindered by an aggressive cancer.

Both families live near the Midwest Sterilization Corporation, a medical equipment sterilization facility in north Laredo that uses in its process ethylene oxide, a known carcinogen.

For the Nevares and the Ortiz families, their cancer battles took on a different light once they learned about that nearby plant