According to CNN:
More than two weeks after a toxic train wreck unleashed plumes of black smoke, contaminated the soil and fueled anxiety in East Palestine, Ohio, residents have reported a growing number of ailments – from rashes to nausea to trouble breathing.
Now, the state will open a health clinic Tuesday for residents who worry their symptoms might be linked to the February 3 derailment of a Norfolk Southern freight train and the subsequent release of the toxic chemical vinyl chloride.
And medical teams from the US Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention and the US Department of Health will be on the ground in Ohio this week, at the request of Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine. The teams will help assess what dangers might remain in the community of about 5,000 people.
It’s unclear what – if any – long-term health problems might arise from the train wreck, the subsequent inferno and the controlled release of vinyl chloride to help avert a catastrophic explosion.
So far, air quality tests from more than 530 homes have not detected any dangerous levels of contaminants, and no results have exceed the limits of residential air quality standards, the US Environmental Protection Agency said. The EPA is offering indoor air screenings for any resident within the evacuation zone, the EPA spokesperson said.
As for the water, the EPA said Monday that municipal water sample results “show no water quality concerns” in East Palestine. No vinyl chloride has been detected in any down-gradient waterways near the train derailment, EPA official Tiffani Kavalec told CNN last week.
The state of Ohio is leading water sampling efforts, an EPA spokesperson said in a statement to CNN. The Columbiana County Health District is continuing to sample private water wells, the spokesperson added, and until results come back, the Ohio Department of Health continues to recommend residents use bottled water.
In the meantime, Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky utilities reopened water intakes from the Ohio River that were shut off Sunday “as a precautionary measure,” according to news releases from the Greater Cincinnati Water Works and Northern Kentucky Water District.
The Ohio River intakes were closed at 2 a.m. Sunday after the chemical butyl acrylate was detected at “low levels” in the Ohio River upstream of the intakes, according to the water district release. Tests of the river water from Sunday and Monday morning did not detect butyl acrylate, the release said. The chemical is used in industrial applications, like fragrances and flavorings, according to the release.
“After extensive sampling of river water Sunday through Monday morning, there have been no detections of the specific chemicals from the train derailment,” the Greater Cincinnati Water Works release said. The utility said it has tested more than 150 water samples from its intake since the derailment.
But US Sen. Sherrod Brown said residents are “right to be skeptical.”
“We think the water’s safe,” Brown told CNN, citing comments from state and federal environmental protection agencies. “But when you return to your home, you should be tested again for your water and your soil and your air, not to mention those that have their own wells.”
Desiree Walker lives just 900 feet from the site of the wreck. She and her family are feeling symptoms, she says – but doctors have told them they don’t know what to test for, Walker told CNN affiliate WOIO.
“At nighttime especially is when we smell it the most,” she told the station. “Our throats are sore, we’re coughing a lot now. My son, his eyes matted shut.”
While some waterways in the area were contaminated – killing thousands of fish downstream – officials have said they believe those contaminants to be contained.