{"id":88236,"date":"2026-01-16T06:00:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T06:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/88236\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T06:00:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T06:00:12","slug":"b-braun-wins-again-in-court-in-a-lawsuit-concerning-emissions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/88236\/","title":{"rendered":"B. Braun wins again in court in a lawsuit concerning emissions"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Lehigh County judge declined to certify a class<\/a> in a proposed class action filed by a Whitehall resident who claimed he and his neighbors were put at risk by cancer-causing emissions.<\/p>\n

Whitehall resident Mourad Abdelaziz claims he was put at risk of cancer from emissions from B. Braun, a medical device manufacturer with a facility on Marcon Boulevard in Lehigh Township, Lehigh County.<\/p>\n

Judge Michele A. Varricchio determined it wasn\u2019t clear how many people should be included in the class.<\/p>\n

Abdelaziz\u2019s attorneys argued residents who lived for a year or more in 35 census tracts close to the plant since 1991 should be included, but the judge said they failed to provide enough evidence to demonstrate that these parameters were appropriate.<\/p>\n

In her Dec. 31, 2025 decision<\/a>, she said Abdelaziz\u2019s attorneys failed to demonstrate that a class of victims exists and failed to show that certifying a class would be a fair and efficient method to adjudicate the case.<\/p>\n

Abdelaziz\u2019s attorney didn\u2019t respond to a message seeking comment. They had hoped to set up a medical monitoring program for people who lived near the plant.<\/p>\n

Multiple lawsuits<\/a> have been filed accusing B. Braun of failing to curtail its ethylene oxide<\/a> emissions, including Abdelaziz\u2019s, which was transferred from Philadelphia Court to Lehigh County Court in 2021.<\/p>\n

These lawsuits suffered a setback<\/a> in December 2024 when a Philadelphia jury found B. Braun not negligent and not liable on all counts concerning an ethylene oxide case. B. Braun subsequently resolved most cases against it, according to a news release<\/a> from B. Braun on Jan. 13.<\/p>\n

\u201cB. Braun welcomes the Lehigh County court decision and the defense verdict and will continue to defend against any of these cases,\u201d its Jan. 13 statement<\/a> says.<\/p>\n

B. Braun uses ethylene oxide to sterilize its medical devices and materials. Its local corporate office is in Bethlehem.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency set new limits<\/a> in 2024 to reduce ethylene oxide emissions<\/a> by 90% from plants such as the B. Braun plant. <\/p>\n

The federal government awarded a $500,000 grant<\/a> to fund community monitoring. The program will identify community health concerns related to ethylene oxide from B. Braun and work with the community to diminish health risks from pollution.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are pleased that an agreement was reached to resolve the majority of ethylene oxide claims pending against B. Braun in the U.S. We are confident in the safety of our operations and stand firmly behind the scientific evidence supporting our position,\u201d B. Braun spokeswoman Alli Longenhagen said in an email Jan. 15.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Lehigh County judge declined to certify a class in a proposed class action filed by a Whitehall…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88237,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":{"0":"post-88236","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bethlehem","8":"tag-bethlehem","9":"tag-bethlehem-headlines","10":"tag-bethlehem-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}