New Research Office to Study Health Effects of 2023 Train Derailment
The new East Palestine Train Derailment Health Research Program Office, opened last week by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is intended to assess the long-term health outcomes of the derailment of a Norfolk Southern train near East Palestine, Ohio, in February 2023. The derailment involved 38 mixed-freight railcars, including five tank cars carrying vinyl chloride monomer, a compressed liquified flammable gas. The other railcars were carrying chemicals including butyl acrylate, ethylene glycol, and benzene. Some railcars burned for more than two days, and concerns about the risk of explosion led responders to initiate a controlled venting and burning of railcars containing vinyl chloride. Following the derailment, residents reported health symptoms such as headaches and respiratory, skin, and eye irritation, which NIH says led to concerns regarding potential long-term effects on maternal, child, psychological, immunological, respiratory, and cardiovascular health.
The research program is funded by NIH’s National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and comprises a team of researchers from the University of Kentucky, University of Pittsburgh, and Yale University. According to a news article from the University of Kentucky, the team includes experts in environmental health, exposure science, and epidemiology. The program website states that the health research study is open to those who lived in East Palestine or the surrounding area when the derailment occurred, workers or volunteers who responded to the derailment or were involved in clean-up efforts, and people who lived in Cambridge, Ohio, or the surrounding area since 2023. Individuals participating in the study must be eight years old or older. The new office is located in downtown East Palestine and will house activities related to enrollment, research coordination, and community meetings.
“The East Palestine Health Research Program is designed to track potential health effects associated with chemical exposure from the derailment, including respiratory, cardiovascular, neurological and cancer-related outcomes,” the University of Kentucky’s news article explains. “The studies will follow residents over time, creating one of the most comprehensive community-based environmental health investigations ever conducted following a rail disaster.”
For more information, see the NIH news release or the website for the research program.
Related: An investigation report published by the National Transportation Safety Board in June 2024 concluded that it was not necessary to vent and burn tank cars carrying vinyl chloride monomer following the East Palestine train derailment.