15th Cancer Suit Filed against Illinois Chemical Plants
By Daniel Hawn
Published on January 02, 2007
The suit claims that unsafe concentrations of vinyl chloride and trichloroethylene have contaminated the water and air in the McCullom Lake area in Illinois.
McCullom Lake, with about 1,000 residents, is one mile from Ringwood, where the companies’ plants operate.
Luke Kuhns joins 14 other individuals, three of which have died from brain cancer, in suing the four companies.
Kuhns was diagnosed with brain cancer 13 years ago.
The defendants in the case are Rohm and Haas, Morton International, Huntsman Corp. and Modine Manufacturing Co. All four companies deny the allegations.
Rohm and Haas acknowledge a plume of contamination has spread about 1,000 feet from its plant but not toward McCullom Lake. The company has been working since 1991 to clean up toxic chemicals at its site with the help of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.
A McHenry County health official says that the geology of Ringwood would not allow any contamination to spread to McCullom Lake, where the plaintiffs live or lived.
A class-action suit on behalf of McCullom Lake residents has also been filed in Philadelphia, the headquarters of Rohm and Haas.
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