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Feds funding 5-year, $10M East Palestine derailment health study
Ohio National Guard 52nd Civil Support Team members prepare to enter an incident area to assess remaining hazards with a lightweight inflatable decontamination system in East Palestine, Ohio, on February 7, 2023. Photo courtesy of Ohio National Guard/ Twitter
June 19 (UPI) -- The National Institutes of Health is undertaking an extended study of the health effects that East Palestine, Ohio, residents have experienced due to the 2023 train derailment there.
The NIH is allocating $10 million to fund the study that will continue for five years and assess the long-term health impacts from the Feb. 3, 2023, derailment of a Norfolk Southern train that was carrying toxic chemicals.
"The people of East Palestine have a right to clear,science-backed answers about the impact on their health," Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. said.
He credited Vice President JD Vance for raising awareness of the need to study the potential health effects on East Palestine's 4,658 residents.
Vance was a U.S. senator representing Ohio when the derailment occurred.
"It was incredibly frustrating watching the Biden administration refuse to examine the potentially dangerous health impacts on the people of East Palestine following the train derailment," Vance said.
"This historic research initiative will finally result in answers that this community deserves," he added.
The Norfolk Southern freight train included 38 railcars carrying toxic chemicals, including vinyl chloride, butyl acrylate, ethyleneglycol and benzene.
Many of the railcars were vented or intentionally burned over two days to rid them of the toxic chemicals, which the National Transportation Safety Board a year ago said was a mistake.
NTSB members conducted a public hearing in East Palestine last June to publicly discuss the derailment that was caused by a defective wheel bearing that overheated and failed.
Norfolk Southern and its contractors erred when they vented or burned off the contents of five tank cars that had derailed and contained vinyl chloride.
The venting and burning created a toxic plume that spread across 16 states and exposed about a third of the nation's population to the chemicals.
Many East Palestine residents have reported experiencing many health-related symptoms afterward, including headaches and respiratory, skin and eye irritations.
Other concerns include the potential long-term effects on maternal and child health and psychological, immunological, respiratory and cardiovascular impacts.
The NIH-funded study will focus on short- and long-term health affects from exposure to the chemicals, public health tracking and how to address community health concerns.
"[President] Joe Biden abandoned East Palestine and left a community of working Americans behind when they needed him the most," Moreno, R-Ohio, said.
"This is a huge step toward finally getting justice for East Palestine."
