A neighborhood near USF is among dozens of communities nationwide engaged in lawsuits against a company that is accused of released carcinogens in its medical-tool sterilization process.
Hidden Oaks is a community just minutes away from the interstate, from the University of Southern Florida, and less than 30 minutes from the heart of downtown Tampa depending on traffic. The crime rates are below the national average, and the atmosphere is considered safe.
Unless you include the environment in that atmosphere. Some neighbors now say the neighborhood was poison.
Less than 100 yards from the neighborhood lays a warehouse. Starting in 2016, it housed an Owens and Minor through its subsidiary American Contract Systems business that sterilized medical equipment, and the ethylene oxide (EtO) it was using may have been toxic. The EPA would hold a town hall in 2023 for the residents in Hidden Oaks, and every surrounding neighborhood, warning residents of potential danger. Since then, dozens of lawsuits have been filed, and residents are asking how and why this is happening.
The building itself was owned by BayCare, one of the largest medical systems in the region. BayCare supports over 63,000 jobs in the region and has hundreds of doctor’s offices. BayCare owns the building and leased it to American Contract Systems throughout the duration of the exposure, which is why it was also named in the lawsuit.
BayCare was contacted during the investigation, and a spokesman said that the facility has been repurposed since 2025 and American Contract Systems no longer uses it. ACS and Owens and Minor were both contacted multiple times for their comment and have not responded.