Written by Patrick Hart

                   

President Greg Hill opened the meeting with a pledge and a prayer but still without a song.

 

GUESTS:  This week we were joined for breakfast by Sam Martinez, our assistant district governor, and Lisa Roti, who is campaigning for Valerie Ramirez Mukherjee, the Republican candidate for the 10^th District congressional seat.

 

BRAGS:

Tony Collins updated us on the latest effort of his son’s robotics team.  The team had difficulty getting their project done on a timely basis, but then they got their ducks all lined up and won the contest.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

 

Our winter fundraiser silent auction and banquet will be on March 13, 2020.  We could use a lot more donated auction gifts along with bottles of wine to be added to a wine basket.

 

The club is still looking for an additional person to prepare our weekly bulletins.  We rotate the duty between our esteemed panel of Pulitzer prize quality writers, so our new recruit would be responsible for about one bulletin a month.  Contact Pat Hart, if you are interested in this enviable opportunity. 

 

 

This week Diana Taylor took on the challenging task of instilling in our group some knowledge of music that was composed past the twentieth century.  She played part of a song and then asked each table if what we heard was a winning song.  Notice she kept her questions to yes/no answers in a kindly attempt not to tramp on our confidence.  As a group I believe we did about as well as we would have done flipping a coin.  It was a very educational experience.

 

 

Our speaker this week was Jesse Greenberg, the public affairs director of Medline Industries, and he spoke to us on Ethylene Oxide.  Ethylene Oxide is a gas that is used to sterilize medical products, and as manufacturer and handler of such items Medline is a big user of Ethylene Oxide.  The chemical however has become controversial of late, because it has been linked to certain forms of cancer, and recently the EPA has increased their level of concern about the cancer causing potential of the gas.  In addition a study by University of Illinois scientists published last year found indications of a higher level of Ethylene Oxide in the blood of people residing close to plants using the cleanser.

 

Medline is a fourteen billion dollar company, with twenty-four thousand employees and it is growing rapidly.  It handles five hundred and fifty thousand medical products, some of which it also manufactures.  It has a big presence in Lake County, with a location in Libertyville employing three hundred and forty-six people, and four Waukegan facilities with a total of seven hundred individuals on its payroll, making it the largest private employer in the city.

 

Medline recognizes that there is potential danger in the use of Ethylene Oxide; however, alternative products are not nearly as reliable, because they use heat to sterilize the medical devices, which would damage their plastic components.  Thus the gas is used in over fifty percent of cases. Medline has long performed blood tests to monitor the exposure of their employees who work with the gas, and they do not believe there is anything to be concerned about.  They would also like to respond to the University of Illinois study, although they do not feel that enough data has yet been released on the observations made to adequately address the findings.

 

Mr. Greenberg pointed out that in 2019 Illinois enacted the strictest laws in the nation for controlling Ethylene Oxide emissions, and he says that in addition to what they have long been doing to control this threat, Medline has already spent ten millions dollars in their efforts to bring the company within compliance of the new law.  He also mentioned the company Sterigenics, which had its facility in Willowbrook closed for excessive emissions of the chemical, and he stated that he thought they indeed were not taking adequate precautions.  He says however that Medline has put in a much stronger system to control the issue.   

 

 

Jim Hessenthaler who has barely shown up for any of our recent meetings won both the weekly jackpot of $32.00 and an unsuccessful chance to draw the Ace of Spades for the $724.00 big money.  I suspect that his guardian angel was shuffling the tickets behind the scene trying to make sure Jim still feels welcome in our midst.

 

NEXT WEEK:

 

Fun & Frolics & Bingo– Bob Zamor

 

Greeter & Prayer – Jon Robb

 

Program: Kelly Amadei, on non-home rule taxation.