The aftermath of the freight train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, persists, with residents and rail workers reporting illnesses and the Biden administration facing criticism regarding an inadequate federal response. The 38-car derailment occurred one month ago and resulted in the release of vinyl chloride into the air via a controlled burn, and questions swirl about why testing for dioxins wasn’t conducted immediately after the derailment.
Earlier this week, EPA Administrator Michael Regan visited East Palestine. He addressed reporters about the ongoing situation. Journalist Nick Sorter asked the commissioner:
“Mr. Commissioner, let me ask you really quick, would you allow your children to touch the water? We’ve seen the rainbow sheen, we’ve seen all of these chemicals popping up from the bottom of the streams that these kids used to play in. Would you allow your kids anywhere close to these streams right now?”
Regan’s response:
“I would not. I’m a father of a 9-year-old. I think we have to all agree we wish this accident didn’t occur, but the accident occurred and as a result some of our creeks and streams have pollution in them.”
CDC Alters Webpage Days after Ohio Train Derailment
Made Vinyl Chloride Look Less Toxic
Archives of a CDC webpage show that for the first time in 9 years, the agency edited toxicity information on vinyl chloride just days after Ohio train derailment—but HHS and the EPA are in on it too.
Reports are circulating on Twitter with claims the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) changed its guidelines on vinyl chloride days before the toxic release of chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio. But the reality is that the CDC was not the only agency involved, and the timing of the changes is in question.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and CDC worked together in a coordinated effort to alter vinyl chloride’s toxicity guidelines shortly before and after the train derailment in Ohio that released 1.1 million pounds of toxic chemicals into the air, soil and water to make the chemical look less harmful.
In addition, just three months ago, East Palestine adopted a pilot program to respond to emergency events where digital IDs were given to residents to track long-term health problems like “difficulty breathing.”
Timeline: (1) HHS and the CDC, in coordination with the EPA, publish an update to the vinyl chloride toxicity profile in January 2023 for the first time in 17 years. (2) Digital IDs on Jan. 26 are rolled out to East Palestine and a nearby township. (3) Train derails on Feb. 3 in East Palestine, Ohio, and a million pounds of highly toxic and potentially lethal vinyl chloride are released into the environment. (4) CDC alters its webpage on or around Feb. 6, 2023, on vinyl chloride, omitting key sections on toxicity. This webpage had not been reviewed for nine years. (5) Health and environmental officials deem the area safe. (6) Lawsuits are filed.
HHS, in January 2023, published a 293-page document called “Toxicological Profile of Vinyl Chloride,” which was prepared in accordance with guidelines developed by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) and the EPA.
The original guidelines on vinyl chloride were published in the Federal Register in August 1989 and were (prior to Jan. 2023) most recently updated in 2006. So for 17 years, the toxicological profile of vinyl chloride had not been altered.
According to HHS, the ATSDR peer-reviewed toxicological profile of vinyl chloride “succinctly characterizes” its toxicologic and adverse health effects—and identifies available toxicological information, epidemiologic evaluations and the level of exposure that presents a significant risk to human health.
ATSDR toxicological guidelines are published by the CDC under the auspices of HHS and drafted in coordination with the EPA.
The CDC’s FAQ webpage for vinyl chloride was recently modified as well. An archived version captured three days after the East Palestine train derailment shows a longer, more detailed FAQ section on vinyl chloride that included a section on the dangers of the chemical in children, recommendations made by the federal government to protect human health and a lower level of lethal exposure.
A current version of the same webpage omits this information, expands the level of human exposure (meaning you can suddenly be exposed to more of a highly toxic substance before you experience detrimental effects and includes a laughable new section on how to protect yourself and your family from vinyl chloride.
Here is a screenshot of the Feb. 6, 2023, archived version of the CDC’s FAQ webpage on vinyl chloride captured three days after the East Palestine train derailment. Notice on the right-hand side of the page it includes the sections “How can vinyl chloride affect children?” and “Has the federal government made recommendations to protect human health?”
With all of the Chyna balloons and UFOs going around, unless you live in East Palestine, Ohio or if you consume a lot of independent news, you probably don’t know that the US is currently experiencing what may be the largest ecological disaster in its history.
And I’m not talking about the fake Climate Change catastrophism promoted by the World Economic Forum, I’m talking about the ~100,000 gallons or 1,000,000 pounds of vinyl chloride leaked, spilled and burned, due to a train derailment in this rural town of 5,000 people, where acid rain and phosgene is expected to decimate a wide swathe of the region’s ecology. The devastation will likely force migrations of people, many of whom will get cancer later on. This is an American Chernobyl.
Dioxins result whenever chlorinated organics like vinyl chloride are burned. Dioxins are degraded slowly in the environment, with a half-life of 25-100 years in the soil. They cause cancers, reproductive harm, damage the immune system and they disrupt hormones.
The toxic plume of airborne hydrochloric acid and dioxin from the East Palestine “controlled burn” has a radius of over 200 miles encompassing Pittsburgh, Detroit, Cleveland and Toronto. For the past week, it’s been raining down over some of the most fertile farmland in the United States, killing farm animals and aquatic life.
The entire Ohio River Basin is affected, where over 30 million people or 10% of the US population lives, including the metropolitan areas of Louisville KY, Cincinnati OH, Indianapolis, IN and Nashville, TN. The Ohio River, alone provides drinking water to over 5 million people. And it drains into the Mississippi, affecting all those downstream.
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