The residents of East Palestine, Ohio, which is a small town along Ohio’s border with Pennsylvania have been copiously reassured that the water and air in their area are safe, despite the fact that swathes of the population have started to experience a plethora of worrying symptoms such as sore throats, headaches, and much worse in the wake of the trains derailment which resulted in a chemical spell and a large “controlled burn” of high carcinogenic and dangerous toxins.
Authorities from both the state and local governments at first chose to evacuate all the areas residents that live within a mile of the trains derailment crash site back on the 3rd of February before starting a controlled burn of the corrosive industrial chemicals in the vehicles tanks as a means to mitigate the chances of an explosion, which could have whipped shrapnel across the small town. The main chemical which worried people was vinyl chloride, a highly carcinogenic substance utilized in the creation of PVC, was leaked out of five train cars in the form of giant plumes of acrid black smoke which could be seen all across the areas of eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania.
“The worst part about the wreck site was the horrible smell,” stated a producer from the outlet Daily Wire, Carte Andrews. “The chemically, stinging odor was so strong my eyes started watering. It lingered all throughout town.”
The people living in the town spoke that were spoken to by media outlets all reported eerily similar symptoms. Despite much resistance from a number of both federal and state agencies that the air and the water supplies had been affected by the derailment of the train, residents and first responders alike have spoken out about a lingering chemical smell in the air, a thick oily sheen across all of the area rivers and creeks, recent sudden spikes in the death rates of local livestock and wildlife, and concerning health issues such as persistent headaches and sore throats.
One business owner from the East Palestine area, DJ Yokley, spoke out in an interview in which he noted that most of his neighbors depend on the livestock they raise for their incomes. “This is a farm town, and there’s a lot of people whose livelihood depends on those animals that they sell for whatever reason. And if they’re tainted in any way, they’re done,” he expressed. “We were living the American dream that we worked so hard for, and now we’re living the American nightmare.”
Despite everything, residents have struggled to get straight answers from both federal and state officials.