The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency is asking the Attorney General’s office to temporarily shut down a Chicago-area chemical plant. The agency says that plant is releasing an illegal amount of cancer-causing fumes into the air.
The plant, owned by medical company Sterigenics, uses a chemical called ethylene oxide to sterilize medical equipment. A recent federal report showed long term exposure to that chemical is known to cause cancer, and the Willowbrook plant was giving it off at “elevated levels.”