2000 Illinois Homes in University Park Without Safe Drinking Water
Due to dangerous lead levels found in tap water, could the Illinois community of University Park become the next Flint, Michigan or Newark, New Jersey? It’s been nearly a month since University Park’s mayor declared a state of emergency sparked by a “do not consume water” advisory made by Aqua Illinois. Aqua Illinois is the private company that supplies water to University Park and other suburbs in Cook, Kane, Kankakee, Lake and Will counties. Aqua officials issued the order after detecting extremely elevated lead levels in the drinking water…
Continue Reading Dangerous Lead Exposures Hit Illinois’ Drinking Water

Children and Infants Neglected at Immigrant Detention Centers 
A new report described the humanitarian crisis involving U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and more than 250 children, including infants living in “squalor and neglect” due to a lack of sanitation, food, and water at a facility in Texas. Within the report were interviews between lawyers, physicians, psychologists, and caseworkers and the children who shared information about their living conditions. Several media outlets have since covered the story and shared these horrific examples of neglect.

• The Associated Press: “The conditions within which they are held could be compared to torture facilities,”

…
Continue Reading Scathing Reports of Government’s Neglect of Migrant Children

FDA Releases 20 Years of “Hidden” Data Related to Medical Device Injuries and Deaths 
Serious medical complications and lifelong injuries, and even death, can result from a risky or wrong medical device. But a March 8, 2019 Kaiser Health News investigative report has led to the recent Food and Drug Administration (FDA) release of two decades worth of previously hidden data containing millions of malfunctions by medical devices and allowed some manufacturers to keep potential safety issues quiet.
Some of the FDA’s public reporting of adverse device outcomes were previously filed as an “alternative summary,” and included more than 5.7…
Continue Reading Medical Device Risks Finally Revealed By FDA

Johnson & Johnson’s Talc Powder Product Marketing Still Aimed at Minority Groups Despite Cancer Claims
Decades of questioning the use and dangers of cosmetic talc powder in health and personal hygiene products finally came to light in 2006, when the World Health Organization began classifying cosmetic talc as “possibly carcinogenic.” At the head of the issue was well-known consumer product company, Johnson & Johnson along with its signature Baby Powder products. Despite tests revealing that the talc J&J uses is possibly harmful to humans and its related health risks, the company continues to focus on selling the product focusing on…
Continue Reading Marketing Continues Despite Talc Powder Cancer Concerns

Three Veterans Die by Suicide in One Week at VA Facilities 
Veterans advocacy groups are pleading for the inspectors general of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Department of Defense and Department of Health and Human Services to promptly begin a joint investigation after three veterans took their own lives at VA facilities in just one week. According to VA representatives, since 2017 the department has tracked 260 suicide attempts at its facilities, with 240 of those having been interrupted.
As many as 20 veterans are dying by suicide each day. This is a tragically preventable number that reflects one…
Continue Reading Veterans Are At Risk Of Suicide & Need Help

FDA Says Surgical Mesh Manufacturers Must Stop Selling Unsafe Devices
On April 16, 2019, The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ordered two manufacturers of three different vaginal mesh products to immediately stop selling and distributing their products for not meeting U.S. premarket standards for high risk devices. The FDA also said there was insufficient evidence that the mesh worked better than surgery to repair pelvic organ prolapse (POP).
The three vaginal mesh devices are:

These are all of the remaining synthetic mesh products typically provided…
Continue Reading Surgical Mesh Injuries To Women

Department of Public Health Says Cancer Risk Studies Will Continue Southwest of Chicago
On March 29, 2019, the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) released news that the Willowbrook Cancer Incidence Assessment study involving the area surrounding the Sterigenics facility in DuPage County found that cancers were indeed elevated. The increased cancer risk presents a public health hazard, prompting IDPH to investigate the implications associated with ethylene oxide (EtO) emissions in the Willowbrook area and recommend for further research.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), EtO is a colorless gas commonly used to sterilize some types of medical…
Continue Reading Illinois Cancer Trends Identified From Ethylene Oxide Exposure

New Proposed Legislation for Illinois Workers Exposed to Toxic Substance Injuries Now Sits with Governor Pritzker
The Illinois General Assembly has passed Senate Bill 1596, which is now at the hands of the new Governor awaiting passage to become a law. The legislation will allow workers to file a claim for benefits after being exposed to harmful substances (such as asbestos or beryllium) and later develop symptoms of injury or disease after the statutes of limitations has run out. The current 25-year time bar has made it nearly impossible for those workers to seek support thru the Illinois civil…
Continue Reading Law For Workers Exposed To Toxic Substances

4 Illinois Immigrant Shelters Will Close After Repeated Incidents of Child Maltreatment
For more than 20 years, the Chicago area has been the temporary home to many migrant children detained after crossing the border. Some of these young immigrants were either alone or were taken from their immigrant parents to now be overseen by the U.S. Health and Human Services department’s Office of Refugee Resettlement. Currently, the largest caretaker for these children in Illinois is a 130-year-old nonprofit, Heartland Human Care Services, part of Heartland Alliance. ProPublica Illinois published a detailed report on December 21, 2018 which revealed several Heartland facilities…
Continue Reading 4 Illinois Immigrant Shelters Will Close

2018 Report Shows Nearly 100 Children Died While Involved in Illinois Welfare System
Each year, the Office of the Inspector General investigates deaths and serious injuries of Illinois children whose families were involved in the child welfare system. The Illinois Department of Child and Family Services (DCFS) Office has released a report by Acting Inspector General Meryl Paniak stating 98 children involved with the child welfare agency died in fiscal year 2018. The deaths were investigated between July 1, 2017 and June 30, 2018. No names or exact locations were used in the report but Cook County was home to…
Continue Reading Death Report Released From Child Services

As part of a weeklong series, the personal injury attorneys of Chicago’s Levin & Perconti have been highlighting the list of companies named by the American Association for Justice (AAJ) as having the “Worst Corporate Conduct of 2018.” These companies have each engaged in behaviors that have emotionally and physically harmed patients, clients, customers, employees, and young female student athletes.
Larry Nassar, the now imprisoned former doctor for USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University Athletics, has landed both of his employers as the final “bad businesses” on the list. While employed by both the University and big-business funded USA Gymnastics,…
Continue Reading Companies Behaving Badly Part 7: USA Gymnastics & Michigan State

“Emissions are continuing to contribute to ambient levels of ethylene oxide in the atmosphere.  This impact creates an imminent and substantial endangerment to public health.”-John Kim, Acting Director of the Illinois EPA

On Friday, relying on new data from independent 30 day continuous air quality tests ordered by Willowbrook village officials, Governor Pritzker overruled the U.S. EPA  and, in tandem with the Illinois EPA, ordered the immediate closure of Sterigenics.
Sterigenics Inc., the Willowbrook plant accused of pumping dangerous levels of cancer-causing ethylene oxide (EtO) into the air, has been defiant, arguing that they are fully in compliance with state…
Continue Reading Update: Sterigenics Plant in Willowbrook Has Been Shut Down