Researchers found acrolein — a chemical toxin — at levels six times higher than normal near the site of the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment weeks after public officials told residents it was safe to return to their homes.
Nearly 5,000 residents of East Palestine evacuated following the February 3 train derailment after Northfolk Southern officials decided to burn vinyl chloride from five tanker cars in an attempt to prevent an explosion, PBS reported.
A team of scientists from Carnegie Mellon and Texas A & M Universities sent a van three weeks after the train derailment to search for harmful pollutants in the air, NBC reported. The vehicle included a mass spectrometer which “can measure hundreds to thousands of compounds in the air every second.”
Albert Presto, an associate research professor in mechanical engineering at Carnegie Mellon who conducted the research, said they were primarily concerned with vinyl chloride levels since it was burned at the time of the crash. Vinyl chloride is toxic, and health experts believe exposure to it may have been what caused residents to develop rashes, bloody noses, bronchitis, and vomiting.
He said the team was surprised to catch acrolein, since it wasn’t a chemical spilled or burned during the train derailment. Researchers believe acrolein could have been released due to a mixture of chemicals.
This photo taken with a drone shows portions of a Norfolk Southern freight train that derailed Friday night in East Palestine, Ohio, are still on fire at midday Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
The Environmental Protection Agency also detected increased levels of acrolein but “those concentrations have since returned to levels below the national median,” the agency said, per Scientific American.
“For some compounds, including acrolein, concentrations that would have been potentially health-harmful were below what EPA could measure,” Presto said. “We were more sensitive.”
Low-level acrolein exposure is associated with slow breathing and burning in the nose and throat; however, studies done on animals found that long-term exposure can cause damage to the lining of the lungs, as well as nasal tumors.
The spectrometer also picked up elevated levels of formamide, which has caused residents irritation to their eyes and skin, though Presto said it is impossible to be certain which toxic exposures are responsible for people’s symptoms.
“If you live near where the train cars derailed, you weren’t just exposed to one thing at one time,” Presto said. “You were exposed to this whole mixture.”
The clean-up of the derailment site is ongoing, and removal of contaminated soil is expected to resume, News Nation reported.
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