Michael Hawthorne – Page 7

The 3M plant in Cordova, Illinois, on May 10, 2022. 3M is one of the chief manufacturers of PFAS and has known since 1975 that forever chemicals had been detected in blood banks around the United States, according to industry records uncovered during lawsuits.

Forever chemicals: They’re in your drinking water and likely your food. Read the Tribune investigation

June 14, 2024 at 6:43 p.m.

Something as simple as drinking tap water is exposing millions of Illinoisans to toxic chemicals that build up in human blood, cause cancer and other diseases and take years to...

Activists from Stop Sterigenics gather on Sept. 30, 2019, at Willowbrook Village Hall to celebrate Sterigenics' announcement of its plans to exit operations in Willowbrook.

Jury awards Willowbrook woman $363 million, finds Sterigenics liable for exposing her to cancer-causing ethylene oxide

September 19, 2022 at 8:32 p.m.

Around the same time Sue Kamuda moved to Willowbrook during the mid-1980s, a Chicago company chose the west suburb as a new site for its rapidly expanding business sterilizing medical...

An aerial view of BP Whiting refinery in northwest Indiana on April 24, 2017.

BP reaches $2.75M deal over Indiana refinery pollution

September 15, 2022 at 4:30 p.m.

BP will pay $2.75 million to settle another lawsuit accusing the company of emitting illegal amounts of lung-damaging soot at its Whiting refinery in northwest Indiana, just across the state...

Attorneys make closing arguments about exposure to cancer-causing ethylene oxide in first case against Sterigenics

September 18, 2022 at 8:19 a.m.

Sterigenics, its parent company and a corporate predecessor should pay $346 million for exposing a Willowbrook woman and thousands of others to cancer-causing ethylene oxide, her attorney urged a jury...

Mary Weaver harvests tomatoes in her garden plot in McCormick Community Gardens on Sept. 7, 2022, in Evanston. Weaver is concerned she and others might be inadvertently contaminating their vegetables by using PFAS-laden sludge as fertilizer in their community garden plots.

Tribune investigation: Chicago’s sewage district fails to warn gardeners free sludge contains toxic forever chemicals

June 14, 2024 at 6:44 p.m.

Bags of the earthy muck are labeled organic or natural. Sometimes it is billed as exceptional quality compost. Industry held a nationwide contest years ago and decided to call it...

An Illinois Environmental Protection Agency geologist collects samples of treated Lake Michigan water in a laboratory at the Wilmette water treatment plant on July 3, 2021. An analysis of the samples detected a pair of toxic PFA chemicals at levels up to 600 times higher than the U.S. EPA's latest health advisory.

How to reduce your exposure to PFAS: Avoid microwave popcorn, water-resistant makeup, nonstick pans

June 14, 2024 at 6:44 p.m.

PFAS are per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances used for decades in firefighting foam and to make products such as nonstick cookware, stain-repellent carpets, waterproof jackets and fast-food wrappers that repel oil...

The Sterigenics plant in Willowbrook, Sept. 28, 2018.

Opening arguments made in first case alleging pollution from Sterigenics caused cancer and other diseases

September 18, 2022 at 8:21 a.m.

When Sue Kamuda moved to Willowbrook during the mid-1980s, she had no idea her new home was a hot spot of cancer-causing air pollution. By the time she and her...

Sludge from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District is dumped and spread on land farmed by Ray Dettmering on June 15, 2022, in Will County.

Sewage sludge contaminated with toxic forever chemicals spread on thousands of acres of Chicago-area farmland

June 14, 2024 at 6:44 p.m.

Ray Dettmering didn't think twice after a salesman knocked on his door a decade ago and offered the Will County farmer as much free fertilizer as he wanted. Instead of...

Researchers urge doctors to test patients for toxic forever chemicals, which could cost Americans nearly $63 billion in hidden health costs

June 14, 2024 at 6:44 p.m.

Physicians should test millions of Americans for toxic forever chemicals, the nation's leading scientific advisory body urges in a new report that reflects growing concerns about unregulated compounds added to...

The Reserve Management Group has been planning to move the General Iron scrap shredding facility from its now-closed Lincoln Park location to this site on the Calumet River in the East Side neighborhood of Chicago.

Feds slam Chicago for locating polluters in poor and minority neighborhoods, threaten to block millions in aid

July 20, 2022 at 9:49 a.m.

The Biden administration is threatening to block millions of dollars in federal aid to Chicago unless Mayor Lori Lightfoot reforms zoning and land-use policies that civil rights investigators concluded are...

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