The Lake County Health Department's most recent ethylene oxide (EtO) measurements around Medline's Waukegan facility were lower than the national ambient data, including the EPA-tested areas of Chicago and Northbrook.
During the week of Oct. 26, areas surrounding Medline in Waukegan registered at .18 parts per billion (ppb) compared to the EPA’s national sampling of nearly 34 ppb over a six-month period beginning in October 2018.
"Medline is encouraged by this initial data, especially since we are still in the process of finalizing the installation of additional redundant-emission technologies that will abate 99.9 percent of all the EtO used at our facility when complete,” Medline spokesperson Jesse Greenberg said in a press release. “We will continue to be vigilant, because our top priority remains the safety of our employees and the communities we operate in."
By comparison, Waukegan/Medline’s EtO is lower than measurements in St. Louis (.27 ppb), Northbrook (.29 ppb) and Chicago (.34 ppb) as measured by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, which measures ethylene oxide through their national air toxics trends stations and urban air toxics monitoring program networks.
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