I can’t understand why more of Lake County is NOT up in arms about ethylene oxide in their backyard. It seems as though people living outside of Gurnee and Waukegan think they’re impervious to the toxic effects of EtO. What we learned from Willowbrook and Sterigenics is that AT LEAST up to a 6-mile range is fair game to EtO pollution. This means on the days the winds are blowing south, east, southwest and/or southeast ethylene oxide is hitting spots like:
Libertyville:
Independence Grove (3.97 miles from Medline)
Libertyville High School (5.5 miles from Medline)
Mickey Finn’s (4.89 miles from Medline)
Libertyville Auto Nation (5.4 miles from Medline)
Libertyville Sports Complex (6.0 miles from Medline)
Greater Libertyville Soccer Assoc (6.0 miles from Medline)
Adler Park School (4.1 miles from Medline)
Copeland Manor Elementary School (5.1 miles from Medline)
Butterfield Elementary School (5.6 miles from Medline)
Rockland Elementary School (5.2 miles from Medline)
Highland Middle School (5.3 miles from Medline)
Old School Forest Preserve (4.7 miles from Medline)
Green Oaks:
Oak Grove School Green Oaks (2.7 miles from Medline)
Lake Bluff:
Shore Acres Golf Club (3.37 miles from Medline)
Lake Bluff Elementary (3.8 miles from Medline)
Sunrise Park Lake Bluff (5.14 miles from Medline)
Pasquesi Home & Garden (4.0 miles from Medline)
Lake Bluff Middle School (4.8 miles from Medline)
Lake Bluff School District (4.9 miles from Medline)
Lake Forest:
Knollwood Country Club (4.46 miles from Medline)
Middlefork Savannah (5.58 miles from Medline)
Deerpath Golf Course (6.0 miles from Medline)
Lake Forest High School (5.63 miles from Medline)
Halas Hall (5.56 miles from Medline)
Lake Forest Cemetary (5.5 miles from Medline)
Gurnee:
Six Flags Great America (3.2 miles from Medline)
Great Wolf Lodge (4.2 miles from Medline)
Woodland Middle School (4.8 miles from Medline)
Other:
Abbott Park (2.72 miles from Medline)
St. Basil Serbian Orthodox Church Mettawa (5.32 miles from Medline)
I understand Medline is a big employer but that does NOT give them the right to pollute without impunity. And as a healthcare company, shouldn’t Medline be concerned about health for everyone, not just their customers?
And Medline’s ethylene oxide pollution isn’t new. They’ve been pumping human carcinogens into Lake County’s air for years. Prior to moving to Waukegan in the late 2000’s they were sterilizing off of Rte 60 (just east of 45) in Mundelein. Just look at the posted picture. The steel tanks are visible, as are the railroad tracks that potentially transported ethylene oxide to the facility. This was in the days before ethylene oxide was on anyone’s radar. Meaning cities like Libertyville, Vernon Hills, Mundelein, Long Grove, Buffalo Grove, Mettawa, Lincolnshire, Ivanhoe, and Hawthorne Woods had no idea they were breathing toxic air EVERY DAY.
Is this injustice okay with you Lake County?
It’s certainly not okay in Georgia. Right now two counties – Cobb and Fulton – are demanding action against their ethylene oxide polluters. TWO COUNTIES COMING TOGETHER TO FIGHT FOR THEIR RIGHT OF CLEAN AIR.
And yet here in Lake County, just a fraction of the population are involved.
Why Lake County has remained silent (or gotten much media attention) I don’t know. It could be because a “local” business is doing the polluting and the local owners, the Mills family, are extremely rich, powerful, and influential people. After all, they frolic in elite circles that include key IL Democrats. And if you weren’t paying attention this past November, it was Illinois Senate Democrats who killed ethylene oxide bill HB3888 before it could even make it out of executive committee.
Still…
That doesn’t give the Mills the right to pollute the air.
Or the right to increase Lake County residents’ risks of cancer.
Or the right to continue business as usual.
Or the right to misrepresent the true dangers of ethylene oxide.
The fact is Medline uses ethylene oxide to treat “bundled” medical equipment. The tight bundling of this equipment necessitates the use of EtO. “Unbundle” the equipment and EtO is not necessary. There are safer and newer alternatives that DON’T poison nearby communities. Remember ethylene oxide is A KNOWN HUMAN CARCINOGEN, no matter how Medline’s scientists for hire try to spin it.
But for argument sake let’s just say in this day and age where U.S. Army researchers have revealed they’ve successfully learned how to tame the atom, Medline still needs to rely on 1940’s ethylene oxide methods for sterilization, then Medline needs to move away from populated areas. Period.
It’s time to wake up Lake County. You’ve been poisoned and are continuing to be poisoned. Isn’t it time this stops? Isn’t it time Lake County stops being treated like an ethylene oxide dumping ground?
Federal legislation is now being considered. They are accepting public comments, including that from the chemical industry which has successfully kept EtO legislation at bay. New state legislation considerations are just around the corner. But everything is moving at a snail’s pace and local government hasn’t done much. If you don’t wake up and start screaming to the Terry Weplers, Don Schoenheiders, George Pandaleons, Bernard Wysokis, to the Dan McConchies, Julie Morrisons, and Terry Links, to the Kwame Raouls, the Mike Nerheims, the Mark Pfisters, and the Larry Mackeys, along to our absent (from Lake County) Governor Pritzker, for robust ethylene oxide legislation that stops placating an industry that has poisoned our county for years, then rest assure, know you are condemning yourself and your family to continued toxic air pollution.
All so that the Mills family can keep staying rich.
Stop EtO in Lake County 