The Lake County Health Department, Village of Gurnee, and City of Waukegan have received the first set of results from their joint outdoor air monitoring for ethylene oxide (EtO) near Vantage Specialty Chemicals in Gurnee and Medline Industries in Waukegan. These preliminary results indicate the presence of EtO at elevated levels at one location in Waukegan, and at varying and lower levels at all other sites. This initial data represents only three days of sampling, so conclusions about potential impacts to health cannot yet be made.

These results represent only three days of sampling, and monitoring is continuing. However, the results show that the highest levels were detected at the sampling location nearest the Medline facility, with the highest reading being 10 ug/m³ collected on June 7-8, 2019.

The results for sampling to date and future samples will be made available at: https://www.lakecountyil.gov/4188/EtO-Monitoring-Results