Second round of ethylene oxide testing begins in Lake County

A second round of outdoor air monitoring for ethylene oxide began last week near Vantage Specialty Chemicals in Gurnee and Medline Industries in Waukegan, Lake County health officials announced Monday.

The 90-day testing period will determine levels of the cancer-causing chemical in the air surrounding the facilities.

"Our first 30-day period of outdoor air monitoring confirmed the presence of EtO in our air, with the highest levels found at the sampling sites closest to the Medline and Vantage facilities," Mark Pfister, executive director of the Lake County Health Department, said in the announcement. "The second round of air monitoring, funded by the (Illinois Environmental Protection Agency), will provide additional data on the levels of EtO before, during, and after new controls are installed at Medline as required to meet their permit from IEPA."

Results will be forwarded to Gurnee, Waukegan, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, Illinois Department of Public Health and IEPA, which has regulatory authority over EtO emissions permitting in Illinois.