EAST PALESTINE, Ohio (NewsNation) — Nearly three months after a catastrophic train derailment in East Palestine, residents are still raising health concerns after toxic compounds are appearing in unsafe levels around town, according to an independent tester.
“You can’t find what you don’t look for. So we’re looking in furnace filters for the broad spectrum of dioxins and other semi-volatile organic compounds, and in soil and in water,” said Scott Smith, chief sustainability officer at ECO Integrated Technologies, Inc.
The February controlled burn of the derailed train cars released 116,000 gallons of vinyl chloride into the air over East Palestine. Residents are angry and scared of the potential long-term consequences of the wreck. Many continue to report inexplicable health issues.
“What they truly took for us from us, they can never give back to us and never make right. They took our peace of mind,” East Palestine resident Jami Cozza told NewsNation.
Residents are also concerned that testing has been focused on the area near the tracks, leaving them with questions about possible contamination in and around their homes.
“The EPA has not tested my house, my soil, nothing. They will not test until they’re done with the tracks. When they’re done tearing up and fixing the tracks, then they’ll start testing my home,” said resident Shelby Walker.
Smith tested soil and water dioxins two weeks after tanker cars tipped over and chemicals in the damaged railcars were deliberately burned for safety reasons on Feb. 3. He also says he tested an area no one else has: furnace air filters in residents’ homes. He shared his results exclusively with NewsNation.
“There hasn’t been anything like the Iraq war until East Palestine,” Smith said, referring to the illnesses caused by toxic burn pits during the Iraq War.
Smith, who has tested in more than 60 disasters around the world, says he found nine new dioxins — some of the most carcinogenic compounds on the planet.
Dioxins refer to a group of toxic chemical compounds that can persist in the environment for long periods, according to the World Health Organization. Dioxins bio-accumulate, building up over time, which means people can get exposed over time. There is no dose of dioxins that is considered safe for human exposure.
Scott called dioxins “the fentanyl of chemicals.”
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said early on that dioxins can be ubiquitous in the environment, but Scott tested a control sample from an area not affected by the plume and found precisely nine less there, which he says confirms to him that these dioxins are new.
“We go into Bull Creek and take a control sample that was not impacted by the plume. There are nine dioxins that were not detected in the control sample versus Sulfur Run which was impacted by the plume,” Smith explained.
The EPA did not test for dioxins early on. The agency initially told residents in the evacuation zone it was safe to come back two days after the controlled burn.
In addition to dioxins, Smith says he found phenyl compounds, aldehydes and benzynes.
“These residents, they’re not making this up. There is something going on. And I believe it’s the way these chemicals may be combining,” Smith said.
NewsNation asked a group of residents Monday if being told it was safe to return was the right call, and all 28 of them answered “no.” They also all felt that they’d experienced symptoms or sickness related to the train derailment and controlled burn. At least five said they had a vinyl chloride diagnosis.
NewsNation cannot say whether the residents’ illnesses and symptoms are indeed a result of the spill and controlled burn.
Judith Enck, a former EPA administrator, says the EPA should have never let residents back in town after two days. She hopes now that Smith’s work inspires the EPA to do additional testing and analysis.
“He found contaminants in the filters, which is not surprising. And I think his work should encourage the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency now, to go and grab some other filters, and do similar testing and analysis,” she said.
The EPA resisted calls to test for dioxin for weeks, before announcing on Mar. 3 that it would order Norfolk Southern to conduct testing. The EPA confirmed to NewsNation it has not tested any furnace filters and would not comment on Smith’s data without seeing the complete results.
Smith said he doesn’t agree with the EPA’s assessment that it’s safe for residents.
“What’s unknown is when benzyne combines with three different dioxins. There’s no data on that,” he said.
Meanwhile, residents feel stuck, seeking answers that, so far, nobody can provide.
“I went to the ER, I had CAT scans, everything and those doctors she came in, and she said, ‘I’m sorry, we don’t know what we’re dealing with.'”
It’s not clear what the medical diagnosis will mean for their future, leaving residents to guess.
“That whole town is a chemical cocktail. And we’re all lab rats, you’re just looking at some of the ones who have been marked,” said resident Linda Murphy.