Sterigenics: Battles Won—War Ongoing, Part 2

Last time, we reviewed the situation which created the need for former employees of Hinsdale South High School (among thousands of others) to be informed of the dangers to which they had been exposed beginning in 1984 and lasting until September 2019, over thirty-four years later: Medical instrument sterilization plants located in Willowbrook, less than a mile from South, had been releasing a carcinogenic gas, ethylene oxide (EtO), into the atmosphere. Sterigenics, the corporation which owned the plants and leased the space in Willowbrook, had been warned of the possible health risks before the plants opened, but proceeded anyway. Studies had proved the warnings prescient as the Willowbrook area became a hot spot for breast cancer and lymphomas (blood cancers), with an increase in premature births and miscarriages as well—all negative outcomes associated with EtO exposure. Led by a community organization named Stop Sterigenics, local residents and government officials got the Willowbrook plants permanently closed, eliminating the immediate threat. But many of those who had been exposed, especially those who worked near the plants but had left the area years before, were unaware of what had happened, how their health might be at risk, or that legal recourse against Sterigenics was ongoing and available.

As a pair of retired Hinsdale South teachers who had been affected by EtO, my wife (at South from 1982-2002) and I (1987-2012) joined an effort to get past employees of South notified about what had happened. All teachers at South had been at least vaguely aware of the unusual incidence of breast cancer which had appeared consistently throughout the building over the years, but with many retired staff members having relocated, their learning about Sterigenics’s culpability in their health issues would depend entirely on how well they kept up with local Willowbrook issues. That is, of course, unless someone reached out to provide them with the pertinent information.

It seemed obvious to us that the school district would want to make sure its past employees knew of what had transpired since District 86 had provided and maintained the buildings in which the EtO exposure had taken place. Obviously, no one associated with District 86 had known what had been going on until 2018 when the EPA study was released, but given that the district now knew what working in its buildings had done to its past employees, we assumed current district officials would want to do the right thing by letting everybody know what had happened. So a campaign to lobby the school board to instruct its administrators to notify past employees of their EtO exposure began in the summer and fall of 2019: Emails, personal contacts, and presentations at school board meetings (at 07.15 of this video, for example) ensued.

By late fall, it became apparent just how far the school board would go: A page on the district’s website gave some background as well as providing a sign-up sheet for “regular” updates (as of March 2021, not a single update has actually been sent—I signed up immediately after the site came online and have yet to get anything). Unfortunately, you can’t see what’s on a web page unless you know to seek it out, so it offered little help in informing relocated past employees about their risks. Additionally, after continued gentle pressure, the district sent a letter to past employees who were members of two honorary District 86 groups: teachers who had worked in district for 25 years or more and support-staff members who had worked at least 15 years in the building. By our calculations, this “notification” (which, to this retired English teacher, was both lacking in needed detail and confusing in its message), reached at best, 10-15% of the total of past employees impacted by Sterigenics. The response was inadequate, to say the least.

So, we then contacted the employees’ union to which virtually every retired teacher had once belonged, the Hinsdale High School Teachers Association (HHSTA). Keep in mind that some of us had served in HHSTA leadership positions for much of our teaching careers: I, for example, had been vice president, newsletter editor, contract negotiator (with two stints as chief spokesperson for the teachers), grievance chair, and building/local president during my 25 years at South. In other words, many retired teachers had worked diligently to support the organization which had represented teacher interests over the years, helping to achieve many of the benefits and positive working conditions which current teachers now enjoy. But, after a week of back and forth, the HHSTA decided it would not allow me to speak at any of its regular meetings, that it would not be “appropriate.” That was the only explanation I have ever received: “not appropriate.” I can only speculate as to why it wouldn’t have been appropriate for me to explain to the HHSTA leadership about our efforts to get past HHSTA members (among others) notified of a significant health risk and to seek HHSTA support for those actions. Since speculations are of little use here, I can only state the facts: The HHSTA would not let me speak at its meetings about Sterigenics and EtO.

Without a doubt, it is disappointing to have the organization to which so many retired teachers devoted significant time and effort during their careers ignore the health threats those same past members faced. I have attended at least five memorial services in the last ten years for colleagues who died much too soon, from illnesses which can be traced to working at Hinsdale South and Sterigenics, to say nothing of all the suffering illnesses caused by EtO exposure have inflicted on my family, friends, and colleagues. For the organization entrusted with advocating for and guarding the health and rights of its members to refuse to do anything to help notify past members of a potentially lethal risk is shocking and reprehensible to me. But that’s what happened; the HHSTA leadership would not allow a past president come to speak at one of its meetings. Rather than dwell on this moral failing and attack those responsible for this gross negligence and abdication of responsibility, I can only state that it saddens me that the HHSTA would turn its back on those who had labored on its behalf over the years.

So, with minimal district support and absolutely nothing from the employee union tasked with protecting its members, we moved on to more public pressure. Essays were posted and meetings were attended, but those didn’t have much, if any, effect. One bright spot during this discouraging time was a Stop Sterigenics founder and ex-student of mine, Urszula Tanouye, who helped keep the story in the news and launched an on-line petition asking the school board to finish its notification responsibilities which garnered over 800 signatures. I will be forever indebted to Urszula for all she did for us. (On a completely unrelated note, Ms. Tanouye is currently running to be on a local school board. It’s not a school district where I live, but she would be a great board member, in my humble estimation.) But nothing we did moved the school board or the HHSTA. Privately, some would concede that our case was just and provide moral support, off the record, of course; but time was passing by (late November, 2019) and we still hadn’t been able to motivate those with the most direct responsibility to act in the interests of those who had spent decades working at South.

Just before New Year’s, our notification campaign got a huge lift: CBS This Morning did an amazing report about Sterigenics, featuring five past employees of District 86 (who had learned of the tie between their illnesses and EtO only recently). These colleagues (Peg, Marge, Rose, Jeanne, and Carol) presented a devastating case against Sterigenics, and CBS did a phenomenal job narrating the story. You could not ask for a better summation of exactly what the problem is and the need for more publicity/notification for those potentially affected. (Then, for good measure, Jeanne and Carol presided over a press conference the day after the story broke, again clearly, calmly, and brilliantly laying out just what had happened for all to hear.) I highly recommend that you check out the five-minute CBS piece. Thank you CBS and reporter Anna Werner, but especially Peg, Jeanne, Marge, Carol, and Rose—all of whom shared personal details about their health in order to help others.

There could be little doubt that, after all this publicity, that the word had gotten out, at least somewhat. But we knew it wasn’t enough, that hundreds of our past colleagues might never hear of their risks if we left it here. Time was passing fast, and this flu-virus thing we’d been hearing about since January was starting to shut down the world. Since the school district and teachers’ union had failed in their responsibilities to past employees and we knew many of our colleagues and friends had not learned about the threat to their health through our publicity efforts, in late February, this group of retired teachers and support staff members came to the decision that nothing further would get done unless they did the job themselves. And so the Hinsdale South Past-Employee Notification Project began. That story comes next.

For a complete timeline and documentation on how the village of Willowbrook has kept track of the Sterigenics issues, see this link. For more on improving public schools, you can check out my eBook, excerpts of which can be read here.