As a dad of three, there are many things I worry about on any given day. Like every parent, my kids are the most important thing in the world to me and my wife, and we want to protect them – it’s instinctual.

When they were younger, we worried about things like toy safety, if they were watching too much TV, or exposed to too much violence in movies. As they get older, our worries changed to things like sports injuries, driving and getting accepted into good colleges.

None of this compares to the amount of worry a group of parents has in northwestern Indiana – their concerns are much more basic, and much more terrifying: whether the air their kids are breathing is safe, or slowly poisoning them.

The air in Lake County Indiana is among the worst in the nation. The area is home to steel mills and refineries that emit toxic chemicals into the air on a daily basis. The effects on children of breathing in these toxins can be cancer inducing. One parent finally tired of letting local companies foul the air, putting his kids at risk. He turned to a local law firm and had a straightforward request – he wants our help to fight these companies and find a solution that both better protects children and educates the community about the dangers of toxic air.

As a parent, one thing I know is certain - parents will do anything to protect their kids.

So we joined with the local firm and filed a lawsuit in Gary, Indiana that names the area’s largest emitters of toxic chemicals as defendants – United States Steel and ArcelorMittal USA among many others. We claim these companies knowingly put children and the community at risk every time they release toxic emissions into the air. We believe these companies have an obligation to warn local residents of the dangers and provide health monitoring to ensure these kids lead long, healthy lives.

USA Today ran a series of reports on air quality around our nation’s schools after working with the Political Economy Research Institute. The reports indicate schools in East Chicago, Indiana are in the first percentile of the worst air quality nationwide. The remainder of Lake County falls in the sixth percentile or higher.

This study shows that children in Lake County are at an increased risk of developing such diseases as cancer and asthma in the future because of bad air quality.

In addition, exposure to these chemicals can result in:

• Mental and emotional problems
• Damage to developing lungs and other organs
• Slow, clumsy body movements
• Lead poisoning from the toxins in the air
• Reading disabilities
• Behavioral problems - ADD or ADHD
• Damage to the kidneys

While it is possible that consequences, symptoms or side affects of breathing the polluted air may take decades before showing up, this is an issue we can, and should, fight right now. We can protect hundreds of children in the Lake County area from unnecessary and unfair health problems simply because they live and attend school near manufacturers that spit out toxic air.

We’ll continue to keep our Web site and blog updated on this case. In the meantime, if you’re a parent in Lake County you can call our firm or e-mail us at [email protected] to learn more about this lawsuit and what it means for you and your children.