Chicago-area residents who claim emissions from a Sterigenics facility in Willowbrook gave them cancer are now accusing the medical sterilization company of payingout $1.3 billion to investors to avoid using that money for damages, according to a new court filing.
Sterigenics is at the center of 75 court cases accusing the medical supplies sterilization company’s facilities of polluting the air with toxic ethylene oxide and causing leukemia, lymphoma, breast cancer, miscarriages and other medical conditions.
Attorneys from law firm Romanucci & Blandin amended their lawsuit Friday, accusing Sterigenics of a series of cash distributions to shareholders over four years and pledging assets to banks to reduce money available for damage awards.
A representative for Sterigenics did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Sterigenics began operations in Willowbrook in 1999. The Illinois EPA ordered the facility closed in February 2019. A judge later said it could reopen if it met certain standards, but Sterigenics announced it September that it was closing the plants permanently.
Ethylene oxide is a colorless, odorless gas that’s been linked to lymphoma, leukemia, breast and stomach cancers, according to the National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute.
