Residents in East Palestine ‘May Already Be Undergoing DNA Mutations,’ Lawyer Alleges

ONG 52nd Civil Support Team members prepare to enter an incident area to assess remaining hazards with a lightweight inflatable decontamination system (LIDS) in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 7, 2023. Ohio National Guard via AP

A lawyer representing plaintiffs who filed a lawsuit after the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, alleged that some residents of the town may “already be undergoing DNA mutations” after the incident earlier this month.

“I’m not sure Norfolk Southern could have come up with a worse plan to address this disaster,” said attorney John Morgan, who is representing plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit, in reference to the train operator. “Residents exposed to vinyl chloride may already be undergoing DNA mutations that could linger for years or even decades before manifesting as terrible and deadly cancers.”

Their “lawsuit alleges that Norfolk Southern made it worse by essentially blasting the town with chemicals as they focused on restoring train service and protecting their shareholders,” Morgan told local media WFMJ-TV as well as USA Today this week. Morgan did not provide specific evidence for his claims regarding DNA mutations.

The latest lawsuit was filed Wednesday his law firm Morgan & Morgan in U.S. District Court’s Northern District of Ohio. It’s one of six suits that Norfolk Southern now faces after the train derailment earlier this month, according to the outlet.

It contends that “Norfolk Southern blew holes in its vinyl chloride cars, and dumped 1,109,400 pounds of cancer causing vinyl chloride directly into the environment,” reported the paper. Additionally, the lawsuit argues Norfolk Southern released more vinyl chloride—a highly toxic chemical—into the air than all industrial emitters did in 2021.

According to the federal National Cancer Institute, vinyl chloride is used to make polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, which is found in numerous plastic products—including plumbing. But “vinyl chloride exposure is associated with an increased risk of a rare form of liver cancer (hepatic angiosarcoma), as well as primary liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma), brain and lung cancers, lymphoma, and leukemia,” its website says.

A research paper released in 2007 published in the Journal of Human Genetics noted that vinyl chloride is a “human carcinogen that is known to undergo metabolism” in the liver that can ultimately “cause oncogene and tumor suppressor gene mutations.” And an introduction for the paper said the chemical is “a known animal and human carcinogen capable of damaging DNA.”

Morgan’s lawsuit and the other suits are seeking damages from Norfolk Southern. The train operator has yet to file a response to the complaints in court.

In a statement to The Epoch Times, Norfolk Southern said it is “unable to comment on anything that may be material to the [National Transportation Safety Board’s] investigation, and we are unable to comment on pending litigation.”

It provided a fact sheet that said “new water testing results have been returned to the Ohio EPA,” which “show no detection of contaminants in raw water from the five wells that feed into East Palestine’s municipal water system ... test results from the combined, treated water from all five wells also showed no detection of contaminants associated with the derailment.”

‘We Will Not Walk Away’

Norfolk Southern announced Tuesday that it is creating a $1 million fund to help the community of some 4,700 people while continuing remediation work, including removing spilled contaminants from the ground and streams and monitoring air quality. It also will expand how many residents can be reimbursed for their evacuation costs, covering the entire village and surrounding area.

An environmental company is removing dead fish downstream from the site of the train derailment that forced people to be evacuated from their homes in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 6, 2023. Alan Freed/Reuters

“We will be judged by our actions,” Norfolk Southern President and CEO Alan Shaw said in a statement that also said the company is “cleaning up the site in an environmentally responsible way.”

Shaw also released a longer news release and declared “we will not walk away, East Palestine.”

“When I visited East Palestine last week, you told me how the train derailment has upended your lives and how concerned you are about the safety of your air, water, and land. Many of you have also reached out to Norfolk Southern to share your fears, your anger, and your frustration,” he said.

The CEO said that Norfolk Southern crews are on-site and cleaning the area and will be using its “Family Assistance Center” to help East Palestine residents. “I know there are still a lot of questions without answers. I know you’re tired. I know you’re worried. We will not let you down,” he said.

FEMA Turns Down Request

The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) turned down a request for federal disaster assistance from Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, his office confirmed Thursday.

DeWine wrote on Twitter that his “administration has been in daily contact [with] FEMA to discuss the need for federal support, but FEMA continues to advise that Ohio is not eligible for assistance at this time” and that he “will continue working with FEMA to determine what assistance can be provided.”

Dan Tierney, a spokesperson for DeWine, also told  news outlets that FEMA told his office that the incident likely doesn’t qualify for disaster relief and that FEMA usually provides federal aid in the aftermath of a natural disaster like a hurricane, tornado, or earthquake. But Ohio was able to obtain some assistance from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to aid residents with potential medical costs connected to the chemical spill and fire, he said.

The cleanup of portions of a Norfolk Southern freight train that derailed Friday night in East Palestine, Ohio, continues on Feb. 9, 2023. Gene J. Puskar/AP Photo

Norfolk Southern, the operator of the derailed train, also is providing some financial aid to East Palestine residents, Tierney told Fox News. If Norfolk Southern doesn’t do so, the Ohio attorney general’s office will get involved and hold the railway operator’s “feet to the fire,” he said.

When reached for comment, FEMA said Thursday that the emergency agency “is in constant contact with the emergency operations center in East Palestine and with the Ohio Emergency Management Agency,” adding it is “closely coordinating with EPA, HHS, and the CDC, who are helping to test water and air quality, and to conduct public health assessments.”

The agency did not provide a response to an Epoch Times question about DeWine’s Twitter statement that Ohio isn’t eligible for FEMA assistance.

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) also sent a letter (pdf) to DeWine earlier this week and asked the governor to declare the derailment a disaster because “a man-made disaster of this scale, scope, and significance necessitates a response and deployment of resources that are commensurate in scale and scope.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.