A town hall meeting in Grayslake is set to take place Wednesday evening to address residents’ concerns about the potential harmful effects of ethylene oxide that's being released by two Lake County companies.
“It’s important that folks take the time to find out what’s been going on in their communities,” said Attorney Patrick Grimm.
Grimm will be on hand at the Grayslake meeting.
“I want to be up here, to see the community, to actually get a chance to have the same forums in places like Willowbrook,” he said.
Grimm and his law firm represent five clients who have filed lawsuits against Medline Industries and Vantage Specialty Chemicals.
They have accused the companies of causing their health problems by emitting cancer-causing ethylene oxide into the air.
Patty Bennett is one of those clients who filed a lawsuit.
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In response to Wednesday’s meeting, Medline released a statement saying in part that it’s “top priority is the safety of our employees and the communities that we operate in…we are proud that our Waukegan facility has always operated at or below federal and state emission standards.”
Grayslake resident Soh Tanaka helped form ‘Stop EtO’ in Lake County, a non-profit that is fighting to shut down the plants, or at least force them to stop using ethylene oxide.
“We don’t want the emission from the company, either they stop emitting EO, or they gotta go somewhere,” Tanaka said.
