Lake County Gazette

The Lake County Department of Public Health has performed its latest round of ambient air testing, data that will include Medline’s improved EtO (ethylene oxide) emission controls at its Waukegan facility. 

Encouraging news emerged for EtO users, such as Medline, when a May 15 report by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality reported found ethylene oxide is 2,400 times safer than the EPA's cancer dose-response assessment issued in 2016.

Medline’s new controls in Waukegan are abating 99.9 percent of all EtO used at the facility, proving it is emitting cleaner air from its stack than ambient measurements. The company has installed the best controls available to reduce the risk to the lowest level recognized by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Medline has made a commitment to the safety of the people in the communities in which it operates.

The Medline facility produces sanitized medical trays and has never been cited for a violation, nor has its emissions exceeded safety standards.

Medline Industries public affairs director Jesse Greenberg said while the company is awaiting the results from the April testing, it is confident in the final results.

“Medline has always operated safely and below any permitted emissions levels,” Greenberg said. “Even before our $10 million investment in best available emissions abatement technology, ambient air samples taken by the Lake County Health Department measured EtO well below the national average as measured by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency at 34 sites across the nation. Those sites do not include stationary sources of EtO either.”

He said this is superior to other measured area levels.

“Ambient air testing near our facility in Waukegan also demonstrated lower levels of EtO than nearby Chicago and Northbrook,” Greenberg said. “We operate the most advanced safety technology in the world at our Waukegan plant, with testing showing the new controls capture 99.99 percent of all ethylene oxide used at the facility. In addition to sterilization of surgical packs, the facility plays an immediate and direct role in supporting health care professionals battling the coronavirus at medical facilities across Illinois.”

He said the results have consistently shown the company adheres to the required limits.

“In March the Illinois EPA certified that Medline meets the standards set forth in the Matt Haller Act, which passed the Illinois Legislature in 2019 and sets the strongest EtO emissions standards in the country.”

Haller was a Willowbrook resident who died of stage four stomach cancer in 2019. The 45-year-old and his family lived a mile from the Sterigenics plant, which he sought to close.

The act that bears his name bans the renewal of permits for facilities that do not meet federal or state standards for ethylene oxide emissions. It also limits where such facilities can be located, prohibiting them from being built near schools and parks as well as placing mandates on public notification if EtO emissions spike and annual emission testing.

The TCEQ findings are welcome news for Medline and the Waukegan citizens when it comes to public safety. 

“Previous assessments of the chemical’s risk by other agencies forced the closure of some ethylene oxide sterilization facilities in other parts of the country and threaten more closures,” the TCEQ report states. “These closures have already caused a shortage of pediatric tracheostomy (breathing) tubes, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued an alert about possible additional disruptions in the supply of sterile medical devices.

“While the agency’s assessment is a purely scientific exercise and does not consider the implications for the supply of sutures, surgical kits, and other medical devices, TCEQ’s final ESL for ethylene oxide may help mitigate these supply chain risks. Using the most current science, the new limit remains protective for people living near facilities that emit ethylene oxide while providing flexibility for the medical sterilization industry to continue its own critical role in patient care in the state of Texas.”