Videos and photos showed an oily inferno of burning vinyl chloride and other chemicals towering over East Palestine, Ohio. Now residents and local leaders are worried about the longtime health consequences of the train crash, fire and spill.
But experts and national authorities largely minimized the health concerns, essentially saying the derailment and toxic spill on Feb. 3 isn't a full-scale environmental disaster such as Love Canal or the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
According to health experts, the spill, explosions and fire are a concern and warrant careful monitoring of environmental contamination and exposure to the people who live there. But the chemicals involved, which largely evaporate or break down within days, mean acute problems are unlikely.
"We know that the science says that East Palestine is safe, but we also know that residents are very worried,” Gov. Mike DeWine said Friday.
That has created a confusing situation in which residents' concerns are called both understandable and unfounded. Here's what to know:
The concern: Are toxic chemicals contaminating the air and water?
Research shows that long-term exposure to vinyl chloride can result in changes to the liver and an increased risk of several types of cancer, so it's understandable residents are worried.
- Water contamination: Videos posted to social media, including by U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, an Ohio Republican, show an oily or rainbow-like sheen that emerges when the water near the crash site is disturbed.
- Wildlife deaths: Authorities say about 3,500 small fish died in creeks surrounding the derailment site shortly after the crash, leak and burn, but further significant deaths have not been reported.
- Residents' health concerns: “They are asking themselves: 'Is my headache just a headache? Or is it a result of the chemical spill? Are other medical symptoms caused by the spill?' Those are very legitimate questions, and residents deserve answers," DeWine said.
FACT CHECK:What's true and what's false about Ohio train derailment?
WATCH:EPA takes charge of Ohio train derailment cleanup
Why experts are also concerned, but not panicked
Experts say they have good reason to believe the air and water at the site of the derailment are safe:
- Air contamination is low: Harmful gases would have either evaporated or been burned, meaning local residents wouldn't have been exposed to high levels for very long.
- Air risk decreases over time: Vinyl chloride in the air breaks down within a few days, resulting in the formation of several other chemicals, including hydrochloric acid, formaldehyde and carbon dioxide. State officials are testing for them as well.
- Water quality passes tests: The Environmental Protection Agency has tested the municipal water supply of East Palestine and says it detected no contaminant associated with the derailment. The agency says it will continue testing to make sure no underground plumes reach local water systems.
To show their confidence in the safety of the water in East Palestine, DeWine and EPA Administrator Michael Regan drank water from local taps during home visits Tuesday.
What's next: More monitoring
Experts say all indications show that risks are low, but the situation is unique and needs to be studied more.
"We learned the hard way from the World Trade Center attack that long-term health assessments are important," said Dr. Leonardo Trasande, director of the New York University Langone Center for the Investigation of Environmental Hazards.
To truly understand the potential danger to people who may have been exposed to chemicals, environmental health experts said it could be necessary to collect medical histories and urine samples.
“What I am concerned about is the need for a systematic and ongoing health assessment of the population that was exposed," he said.
Trasande said that at this point there is no evidence of harm, but the public deserves an in-depth investigation.
WATCH:Ohio residents return home after train derailment, officials claim air and water are safe
NEWS:East Palestine residents remain fearful; feds pledge more help
“You draw a decent line with a margin of error and start not only monitoring the environment but also the people, getting their medical histories and following them after the incident, not only for short-term but also medium- and long-term consequences,” he said.
“These are not chemicals that stay around the body very long. But at a first pass, this provides a baseline on which you can evaluate what the exposures might have been. Then you can compare the highly exposed with the less exposed and see if there are any health patterns.”
EPA cuts complicate national response
It took more than a week for national scrutiny to build over the environmental concerns raised by the spill. Experts weren't surprised, given the deep funding cuts health and environmental agencies have taken in the past two decades.
The EPA has 20% fewer employees today than it did at its peak in 1999, when about 18,100 people worked there. The EPA's annual budget hit a high of $10.3 billion in 2010, and today sits at $9.5 billion. If the budget had kept up with inflation, it would be $14 billion.
“For a long time, this has been an underfunded and understaffed agency, so things like science communication and community involvement have been really cut. The only time that EPA is called in is in these disasters, so there’s not a lot of space there to build trust,” said Tiffany Sanchez, a professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.
Public health at the city, county, state and federal level also has seen cuts over several decades. Between 2005 and 2020, public health, the country's front-line defense in protecting communities, lost 45% of its inflation-adjusted funding for staff, training, equipment and supplies.
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