The exterior of a Jackson Township American Contract Systems facility, a portion of which has been cited by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as releasing potentially carcinogenic chemicals. Julia Maruca/Butler Eagle

JACKSON TWP — Township officials are moving to enforce zoning restrictions on a facility within the township cited by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as releasing potentially carcinogenic chemicals.

American Contract Systems, Inc., a company based-in Minneapolis with a facility in the township at Jackson’s Pointe Commerce Park, 4050 Jackson Pointe Court, is among companies in 23 communities nationwide whose emissions of the chemical ethylene oxide were identified as being at concerning levels for their communities, according to the EPA.

Ethylene oxide, or EtO, typically is used to “make other chemicals and products like antifreeze and plastic bottles, or to sterilize items that can’t be sterilized by steam, such as some types of medical equipment,” according to a statement from the EPA. Ethylene oxide can cause cancer over time, and if people breathe it in over the course of many years, it may increase their risk of cancers of the blood or breast cancer, the EPA’s web page on the chemical explains.

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