Becton Dickinson and : BD Statement on Georgia Facilities

BD is working closely with the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) regarding the agency's recent modeling of ethylene oxide (EtO) emissions for BD's facility in Covington. Today the Georgia EPD released a statement clarifying that the level of ethylene oxide (EtO) emissions at BD's facility in Covington is within acceptable risk levels as defined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Since their inception, both of BD's sterilization facilities in Georgia have used the best available technology to reduce EtO emissions. These facilities currently achieve greater than 99.95% destruction of EtO in our plant emissions, which is better than the federal requirement of 99%, and results in EtO emissions well below the maximum levels allowed through our permits for the Covington and Madison facilities. BD's facilities in Georgia are among the best in the industry in EtO emission performance, and the company continually invests to maintain state-of-the-art technology in our facilities.

Even though our current EtO emission controls are among the most effective in the industry, BD is continuously striving to improve air quality controls at our facilities. We are currently working closely with Georgia EPD to implement additional voluntary improvements to further reduce emissions in Covington and Madison. To achieve this, BD is working with industry partners and Georgia EPD to discover new system and process innovations that will further reduce EtO emissions at our facilities, which the company plans to implement as soon as designs are finalized and approved through the appropriate permitting processes.

BD cares deeply for our employees and the communities in which we operate. We are an important part of the Covington and Madison communities and take our responsibility to be a good corporate citizen very seriously. In addition to Georgia EPD, we are collaborating with local, state and federal officials to provide information and awareness of the high level of process safety and environmental controls used in our Georgia facilities, and we are committed to maintaining community transparency. We simply would not operate a facility that we do not feel is safe for employees and neighboring residential areas.

BD is one of the largest global medical technology companies in the world and is advancing the world of health by improving medical discovery, diagnostics and the delivery of care. The company supports the heroes on the frontlines of health care by developing innovative technology, services and solutions that help advance both clinical therapy for patients and clinical process for health care providers. BD and its 65,000 employees have a passion and commitment to help enhance the safety and efficiency of clinicians' care delivery process, enable laboratory scientists to accurately detect disease and advance researchers' capabilities to develop the next generation of diagnostics and therapeutics. BD has a presence in virtually every country and partners with organizations around the world to address some of the most challenging global health issues. By working in close collaboration with customers, BD can help enhance outcomes, lower costs, increase efficiencies, improve safety and expand access to health care.