Ethylene Oxide/Sterigenics Updates

Articles Posted in Environmental Contamination

Cereal-2-1-300x225A recent study conducted by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) has revealed the presence of a toxic chemical, chlormequat, in popular oat-based foods such as Cheerios and Quaker Oats. Chlormequat, is an agricultural chemical used to modify plant growth.

Past research has linked chlormequat to adverse reproductive and developmental effects in animals. More specifically, the studies have linked the chemical to reduced fertility, altered fetal growth, and delayed puberty.

EWG’s recent research also highlighted a troubling trend: Chlormequat has been detected in a significant majority of Americans tested, with detection rates steadily rising over the years. In 2017, chlormequat was detected in only 69% of EWG’s study participants; however, in 2023 it was detected in 90% of participants. Considering the chemical’s short half-life in the body (24 hours), the findings suggest ongoing exposure among the population.

Sterigenics-2-300x192Attorney Shawn Collins, founder and partner of The Collins Law Firm in Naperville, Illinois, was instrumental in forging a $408 million settlement of the cancer claims of more than 800 plaintiffs in In re Willowbrook Ethylene Oxide Litigation, venued in Illinois State Court (Cook County). The claims arose after a federal government report announced in 2018 for the first time that a sterilization plant in Willowbrook, IL–operated by Sterigenics, LLC, and its predecessors–had been emitting a chemical known as ethylene oxide 24 hours a day into the residential community’s air for more than 30 years. Once it left the Sterigenics’ plant, the colorless, odorless ethylene oxide silently migrated a great distance, exposing people in homes, workplaces, and schools.

Ethylene oxide is widely used in the sterilization of medical devices and other items. It has been classified as a known human carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). It is especially dangerous to children.

Until the release of the government’s 2018 report, the residents of the Willowbrook area had never been told that such a dangerous chemical was infiltrating their community on a daily basis, or indeed at all. The more than 800 plaintiffs in the litigation were typically those who had been breathing the ethylene oxide—unknowingly—for years. After years of inhalation, most were then diagnosed with breast cancer, or lymphoma or leukemia—the cancers most strongly associated in medical studies with exposure to ethylene oxide.

Top-Verdict-2022-TiktokWe are proud to announce that our $363 million verdict in Kamuda v. Sterigenics U.S. LLC, et al., was named the number one jury verdict in Illinois in ALL practice areas in 2022 by Top Verdict. In addition, this verdict was the second highest personal injury verdict in the entire United States and the number 10 verdict in ALL practice areas in the U.S. in 2022, according to Top Verdict. Congratulations to Collins Law partners Shawn Collins and Edward Manzke and associate Margaret Galka for their work on the trial team that secured justice in this important environmental toxic tort case.

Amount of Verdict: $363,000,000, including $325 million in punitive damages and $38 million in compensatory damages.

Attorneys: Patrick A. Salvi II, Lance D. Northcutt, Jennifer M. Cascio of Salvi Schostok & Pritchard PC; Shawn M. Collins, Margaret Galka of The Collins Law Firm, PC; Scott A. Entin, Roisin Duffy‐Gideon, Deanna N. Pihos of Miner Barnhill & Galland PC

Partner Shawn Collins is featured in an interview in Lawyer Monthly magazine this month. Below is an excerpt from the article.

Lawyer-Monthly-headline-with-photoLeading the Charge Against America’s Biggest Polluters

Instances of harmful pollution and ecological disasters have grown unsettlingly commonplace in the US – despite environmental regulations that appear strict on paper. Why is this, and how can polluting corporations be held responsible for the damages they cause? Enter Shawn Collins, the ‘environmental lawyer for the people’. In this exclusive interview, Shawn shares a look at the work he does and the clients who come to him, as well as a glimpse into the ongoing battle to hold polluters accountable in the US.

classroom-2-300x200PCBs – the common term for polychlorinated biphenyls – are toxic manufacturing compounds that do not occur in nature and have been linked to various health problems with the liver, thyroid, skin, and eyes. Moreover, they have been classified as probable human carcinogens by the EPA and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), based on animals studies that provided conclusive evidence that PCBs cause cancer. And they are commonly found in light ballasts and building materials in schools. 

 PCBs were manufactured by Monsanto for use in a multitude of products, from floor finishers and oil paints, to caulk, carbonless copy paper, and the ballast contained in fluorescent lights. They are nonflammable, chemically stable, and excellent electrical insulators, making them convenient and versatile in the manufacturing process. However, the price for these manufacturing conveniences – the disastrous consequences they can have on health – is far too steep to pay, and in 1979, they were effectively banned by the U.S. government. But this should have been only the first step – and the next steps have been slow in coming. 

The health threats posed by products containing PCBs didn’t disappear with the manufacturing ban. PCBs have very slow decomposition rates and retain their toxicity even in very low concentrations. Animals that ingest them can then pass them up the food chain and contaminate an entire ecosystem. And this isn’t even touching on schools – where testing consistently turns up high concentrations of PCBs. 

agriculture-g318048f3a_1280-2-300x172The big pesticide companies are once again being accused of manipulating science to get what they want; this time by withholding evidence of pesticide toxicity from European Union (EU) regulators in order to get their pesticides approved. The tactic is not only unethical but is against the law. And finally, researchers are starting to shine a light on this scandal.

New research from Swedish researchers, chemist Axel Mie and toxicologist Christina Ruden, published in the journal Environmental Health reveals that several pesticide manufacturers withheld unfavorable results of toxicity tests for the developing brain from European authorities. The manufacturers–including Bayer, Syngenta, and Nissan Chemical–had conducted developmental neurotoxicity tests to win regulatory approval for their products and submitted them to the US EPA but not to the European Food Safety Authority.

The Swedish researchers discovered that 9 out of 35 developmental neurotoxicity (DNT) studies were withheld from EU regulators despite clear legal requirements to disclose them. In fact, the EU authorities did not even hear about these tests until years later. As a result, the negative studies were not considered by EU regulators during their first authorization of the nine pesticides: abamectin, ethoprophos, buprofezin, fenamidone, fenamiphos, glyphosate-trimesium, pymetrozine, pyridaben, and fluazinam. The pesticides were used on tomatoes, strawberries, potatoes, and eggplants.

air-pollution-1-300x200Particulate matter is in the air all around us. Emitted from sources like industrial plants, fossil fuel burning, power plants, and wildfires – they are everywhere and can have dire consequences for human heart health. Regulatory agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are in place to ensure that things like particulate matter are kept sufficiently in check to protect American citizens. But are they doing enough to curb particulate matter to truly keep Americans safe? 

 Two facts: 

  1.   The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) summarizes its mission on its own website in one unambiguous sentence: “The mission of EPA is to protect human health and the environment.” 

Train-diesel-exhaust-300x169Just weeks after America witnessed a black plume of toxic murk billowing above East Palestine, the Surface Transportation Board inexplicably decided to increase the chance of an identical derailment horror, right here in the Chicago area. 

When the Board approved America’s first big railroad merger in 25 years, it ensured that there will be a 300-600% increase in freight train traffic each day in our communities. That means 11,000 more rail cars filled with toxic chemicals will lumber down the tracks through Chicago and its surrounding suburbs each year. We don’t know what those chemicals will be—carcinogenic? combustible? explosive?—and the towns along the rail lines that will be forced to respond to any derailment won’t know, either. 

 Board Chairman Martin Olberman defended his approval of this grotesquely-timed merger with vague assurances that transportation of dangerous chemicals by rail is safer than by truck. 

The greatest enduring threat to the residents of East Palestine is contaminated groundwater. Fast remediation — and not empty political assurances — can solve the problem. 

Aerial_view_Norfolk_Southern_freight_train_derailment_Feb_2023The director of Ohio’s Department of Health sought to assure East Palestine residents of their safety by remarking that the cancer-causing solvents from the derailment now in the town are no cause for concern, because these chemicals are already “a part of our everyday life.”

What a terribly callous, ignorant, thing for a health official to say. Just because there were some carcinogens in East Palestine before the train derailment does not excuse Norfolk Southern  dumping tens of thousands of pounds more of them onto the small town.  Plus—and the director should know this—where it comes to carcinogens, there is no such thing as a safe level.  That means that every bit dumped by Norfolk adds to the town’s danger.

Hair-relaxer-Photo-244x300Hair relaxers are the latest beauty products to come under fire because of their link to potentially dangerous health effects. New scientific evidence has emerged that suggests that the long-term use of hair relaxers is linked to increased rates of uterine cancer. More specifically, a groundbreaking new study from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has shown that women who use chemical hair straightening or relaxing products regularly are at a higher risk for developing uterine cancer than those who do not use these products. This study along with an earlier NIH study linking hair relaxer use to ovarian cancer are the reason women are filing hair relaxer lawsuits.

NIH Study Links Hair Relaxers to Uterine Cancer

 Uterine cancer is the 4th most common type of cancer in women, and Black women are twice as likely as white women to develop uterine cancer during their lifetime. The new study from the NIH may partly explain why. The study, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute in October of 2022, found that women who used hair straightening products in the previous 12 months were more likely to be diagnosed with uterine cancer than women who had never used hair relaxers. And the risk increased with more frequent use. Women who used hair relaxers 4 times in the previous 12 months were more than twice as likely to develop uterine cancer.

Contact Information