This story is a partnership between Grist and El Paso Matters.
When Cardinal Health, one of the largest medical device manufacturers in the country, hired Maria as an accountant in 2014, she was thrilled. It was her first job out of school, and she was excited about landing a coveted position at a multinational company. For the next year, she worked at the company’s warehouse in El Paso, where Cardinal received sterilized medical products that were eventually shipped to hospitals across the country.
When she eventually left the job for a position at a major accounting firm, she viewed her time at Cardinal fondly. Her co-workers had been kind and supportive, and she was grateful to the company for giving her a start. Over the next decade, as she moved to Seattle and climbed the corporate ladder at the firm, she had no idea that she had been exposed to ethylene oxide, a toxic chemical used to sterilize medical devices, while working at the Cardinal warehouse…