A senior researcher at Texas A&M University expressed concern that the EPA and other government agencies are neglecting to provide full information about the risks posed to residents of East Palestine, Ohio, in the wake of the Norfolk Southern train derailment and chemical fallout.
Local and state authorities previously evacuated all residents within one mile of the February 3 derailment and started a controlled burn of industrial chemicals on the vehicle to decrease the risk of an explosion, which could have sent shrapnel throughout the small town. Vinyl chloride, a known human carcinogen used to manufacture PVC, was emitted from five train cars in the form of massive plumes of black smoke visible throughout eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania.
Analysts from the Texas A&M Superfund Research Center and the Center for Atmospheric Particle Studies at Carnegie Mellon University announced last week that nine of the 50 chemicals the EPA said were present on the derailed train have higher concentrations than normal in East Palestine. They were especially concerned with above-normal levels of acrolein, a substance with a pungent odor that is highly toxic when inhaled, and warned of health concerns if above-normal levels of benzene, naphthalene, and vinyl chloride persist in the area.
The findings came after the EPA said that air and water quality tests have not produced cause for concern, while state-level authorities in both Ohio and Pennsylvania reached similar conclusions.
