EAST PALESTINE, Ohio (WJW) — More than two years after the toxic derailment of a Norfolk Southern train in East Palestine, many residents continue to report they suffer from various health-related problems.
“When the derailment first happened, I would say within the first six weeks, and it’s very well documented, many residents faced acute symptoms like respiratory symptoms, congestion, nose bleeds, rashes, things like that and my family and I were not immune,” said Misti Allison, whose home was approximately a mile from where the derailment happened.
Immediately after the derailment, a half-mile-long section of the train erupted in flames, sending billowing smoke from various train cars over the village, which had not yet been evacuated.
Water poured on the fires washed a cocktail of chemicals from the cars into local streams and into the soil.
Several days later, tank cars carrying thousands of gallons of vinyl chloride were intentionally detonated, resulting in a massive mushroom cloud of toxic materials that spread over miles.
The derailment is believed to have released a number of hazardous chemicals, including vinyl chloride, butyl acrylate, ethylene glycol, and benzene residue into and over the community, several of which are known to cause cancer.
Jami Wallace lived very close to where the derailment happened. In the months afterward, her family was living in a hotel until residents were told it was safe to return to their homes.
“As soon as I pulled into my driveway, my faith in the EPA collapsed. My face was on fire, my skin was breaking out, turning red in a rash. I couldn’t breathe, I was coughing and I looked at the creek that runs 10 steps from my front door and I seen chemicals flowing down it,” said Wallace who has since become a nationally-recognized advocate for those in East Palestine who continue to experience health problems they report did not exist before the derailment.
She and others have worked through the Freedom of Information Act, demanding to discover documents she believes contradict what was being stated publicly about the safety of the air and groundwater in the immediate area of the derailment.
“It’s not just my thoughts; we have now proven through research that our town was contaminated for at least four months,” she said.
Wallace showed Fox 8 photos of Sulfur Run Creek she claims were taken just this past June that still show a chemical sheen on the top of the water there.
She claims to have experienced thyroid problems, asthma, paradental disease and more since the derailment. They are symptoms that, when shared on social media, she says she has found are shared with numerous other residents of East Palestine.
“You can’t tell me this is a coincidence,” she said.
Erin Haynes, professor of preventive medicine and environmental health at the University of Kentuck,y has been conducting research in East Palestine since shortly after the derailment.
“So far, we have conducted a series of surveys looking at health, so our survey is called a health tracking survey and we have been asking residents about their health experiences since right after the derailment began in February,” she said.
The study, to date, has focused on roughly 400 adults in the community. Haynes says 60-70% of them have reported some ill effects since the derailment that they did not experience before it happened.
Just this month, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences has awarded her program $1.5 million to begin a long-term study of residents in and around East Palestine to dive deeper into the long-term effects of the derailment.
The university said it is the first year of an expected 5-year, $9 million program to research the long-term health effects.
The study will look into the medical records of willing participants before the derailment
The study will also attempt to obtain baseline information from residents of a comparison group, a similar community in Guernsey County, well away from East Palestine, to compare the results.
It will also attempt to include the effects of the derailment on children.
Haynes tells FOX 8 News she is in the process of assembling teams. The study, she says, would include experts from Yale University, looking at groundwater and from Pittsburgh University who have expertise in studying liver and thyroid function.
She expects the study to expand in its scope to include willing participants within as much as a 50-mile radius of East Palestine.
A statement for this story regarding the study and continued health concerns was requested from Norfolk Southern Railroad. The response did not provide a specific statement, directing us to the railroad’s website about its efforts in East Palestine.
In the meantime, Haynes hopes the study will continue well beyond even her tenure at UK.
“We want our data not to fall flat or be on a shelf but to really make an impact for the community,” said Haynes