Right now, as you read this, you are breathing. Your children are breathing. Your neighbors are breathing. But here in the Severn, Hanover, and Jessup communities, every single breath we take is a gamble.
Most of us have no idea that we live at the dangerous epicenter of a hidden industrial air crisis. Just three miles apart sit two massive industrial factories owned by Elite Spice (on Magellan Drive in Hanover and Montevideo Road in Jessup). Together, they pump an invisible, odorless, toxic gas directly into our local air supply.

The chemical is called Ethylene Oxide (EtO).
The United States Government (EPA) doesn't just call it pollution; they officially classify it as a known human carcinogen, a chemical proven to cause cancer. It is so toxic that it actively damages human DNA. Breathing it over time directly spikes your risk of developing terrifying diseases: breast cancer in women, and blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma.

Our situation is terrifying because the EPA flags both local plants for releasing levels of this chemical that breach federal safety thresholds. In fact, scientific evaluations revealed that the lifetime cancer risk in the neighborhoods immediately surrounding the Jessup plant spiked to double the national average purely because of this industrial air pollution.
We are living, sleeping, and raising our children inside an overlapping toxic footprint.

The factory owners say they have indoor filters, but filters do not stop leaks. Toxic gas routinely escapes through unsealed factory doors, windows, and roof vents before it ever touches a filter. Because there are no monitors outside on the property lines, we are left completely blind, entirely vulnerable, and left to breathe whatever poisons drift into our yards, schools, and playgrounds.

This is a violation of our basic human rights. We did not give these facilities permission to compromise the health of our children for their corporate profit.

We are demanding that Maryland lawmakers and environmental regulators force these facilities to install independent, permanent fenceline air monitors on their property borders. We demand real-time, 24/7 public data so we can see exactly what is in our air.
Transparency isn’t a courtesy; it is a matter of life and death. Please, do not wait until someone in your household gets a terrifying diagnosis. Protect your home, protect your neighborhood, and protect the people you love.

Sign this petition to demand a safer, clearer future for our community. Let us stand together and ensure the purity of the air we rely on each day.