Law firms representing Sterigenics cancer victims support Attorneys General call for strict standards of ethylene oxide emissions

Romanucci & Blandin, LLC and the other law firms suing Sterigenics and parent company Sotera for polluting the air in Willowbrook, Illinois with toxic ethylene oxide (EtO) and causing at least 75 cases of cancer add their support to this week’s letter to the U.S. EPA by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and 10 other attorneys general. That letter, directed to EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler, asked for the agency to not only adopt regulations that “adequately protect public health and the environment from the well-documented risks posed” by the carcinogenic gas, but also to work with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to further research alternative methods of sterilization to end the “over-reliance” on EtO. 

In a powerful statement, the letter expresses concern that the dangers of emissions from facilities like Sterigenics may have been significantly underestimated for years.

Sterigenics medical sterilization company exposed innocent neighbors to the airborne carcinogen for decades. In the fall of 2019, the company permanently closed its Willowbrook facility after intense public pressure. There are now more than 75 cases pending before the court, which name Sterigenics and other parties responsible for causing leukemia, lymphoma, breast cancer, miscarriages and other medical conditions.

There are similar medical sterilization facilities in more than two dozen states across the country.

“Those of us representing the community members whose health and lives have been devasted by ethylene oxide emissions commend Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and the ten other attorneys general for their engagement and advocacy on this critical and urgent public health issue,” said Antonio Romanucci, Attorney and Founding Partner of Romanucci & Blandin. “I would emphasize that because there is absolutely no safe level of EtO, that no emissions should be allowed anywhere near residential areas.”

Antonio Romanucci is the court-appointed Lead Counsel for the legal group suing Sterigenics.

Four Co-Lead Counsels were also appointed, including Todd Smith of Power Rogers & Smith L.L.P; Patrick Salvi, II of Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard, P.C.; Steven Hart of Hart McLaughlin & Eldridge, LLC; and Shannon McNulty of the Clifford Law Offices.

The Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee includes Romanucci & Blandin, LLC, Power Rogers & Smith, L.L.P., Salvi Schostok & Pritchard, P.C., Hart McLaughlin & Eldridge, LLC; Clifford Law Offices; Tomasik Kotin & Kasserman, LLC; The Collins Law Firm P.C.; and Miner Barnhill & Galland, P.C. Together the firms are fighting to hold Sterigenics accountable for the reckless negligence that has resulted in the needless and continuous poisoning of men, women and children in Illinois for so many years.