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Councilmember urges research into local pollution after report linking area contamination to cancer
Summary
During a meeting honoring National Cancer Survivor Month, a Lake County councilmember pointed to a recent news report tying elevated cancer rates to pollution in the Gary area and urged the council to take a leadership role in investigating local industrial contamination.
Councilman Brown urged the Lake County Council to pursue research into possible links between industrial pollution and elevated cancer rates in the Gary area, saying the county should not "sweep [the report] under the rug." The remarks came after the council approved a resolution recognizing June as National Cancer Survivor Month.
The comment was offered during a discussion of the resolution, approved by the council as Resolution 25-31. Councilman Brown said a news report had described a woman in the Gary area and included doctors discussing pollution as a potential cause of cancer, and he asked the county to look further into reported contaminants in local water and air. "I don't think it should be something swept under the rug," Brown said. He specifically named local industry when urging follow-up: "someone should be responsible for some of these things that's happened to the health of our loved ones."
Council members and others at the meeting responded that if pollution is present in Gary it likely affects nearby communities. The council president (unnamed in the transcript) said, "Because if it's in Gary, it's in East Chicago, and it's in Whiting," and asked the speaker to share the news story with the council for review.
The discussion occurred in the context of the council unanimously adopting the cancer-survivor resolution and followed a public acknowledgement of survivors. The resolution text included language noting survivorship and called for community outreach and resources; it was approved by roll call (vote recorded as "motion passes 6 1 0, 1 absent" in the transcript when first taken up).
No formal investigative motion or directive to staff is recorded in the meeting minutes included in the transcript. The speakers who raised the issue urged that the council "take a leadership role in pursuing" research and asked that the article referenced be circulated to other members and staff for follow-up.
The council did not adopt any ordinance or appropriation at that moment tied specifically to environmental testing or remediation; the transcript records only the public remarks and the council's request that the news item be shared with members for further review.
