by Olivia Rondeau at The Post Millennial
Despite the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) assertion that residents of East Palestine are safe to live around the site of the February 3 train derailment that led to toxic chemical contamination of the local environment, a new assessment from Texas A&M and Carnegie Mellon University found that the Ohio town’s air contains “higher than normal” amounts of several potentially dangerous chemicals.
The report, published last week, determined that acrolein, benzene, vinyl chloride, butadiene, naphthalene, o-Xylene, trichloroethylene, trichloroethane and p-Xylene were all present in the air in East Palestine as a result of the Norfolk Southern Railroad catastrophe.
Update (2/3) Compared to EPA National Air Toxics data (NATA 2014), some concentrations in East Palestine (OH) for 9 out of ~50 chemicals EPA reported are higher than “normal.” If these levels continue, they may be of health concern (especially acrolein). pic.twitter.com/q4jyxS45Lu
— Texas A&M Superfund Research Center (@tamusuperfund) February 24, 2023
Acrolein, according to an investigation by the Daily Mail, is “a gas that can cause excess fluid in the lungs.” According to the Texas A&M and Carnegie Mellon University researchers, acrolein poses the biggest threat for the locals because they found it to have the highest level above the limit that would be considered safe.
According to East Palestine resident Wade Lovett,…
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