East Palestine Residents Say They’ve Been Diagnosed With Bronchitis After Train Derailment

A black plume rises over East Palestine, Ohio, as a result of a controlled detonation of a portion of the derailed Norfolk Southern trains, on Feb. 6, 2023. Gene J. Puskar/AP Photo

Residents who live near the toxic site of the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment have said they’ve been diagnosed with bronchitis associated with exposure to chemicals.

Melissa Blake, who lives within a mile of the train derailment site, said she was diagnosed with bronchitis after she started coughing up gray mucus and was having difficulty breathing two days after the crash. Blake told NBC News that she went to the emergency room on the day she evacuated, Feb. 3.

“They gave me a breathing machine. They put me on oxygen. They gave me three types of steroids,” Blake said, adding that she has not gone back home to East Palestine since she was discharged from the hospital several weeks ago.

Deborah Weese, a nurse practitioner at Quickmed Columbiana, told NBC that she’s evaluated between five and 10 people per day who have symptoms consistent with exposure to toxic chemicals. She said she has listed exposure to potentially hazardous chemicals as a possible cause of ailments, including bronchitis, for people who work or live near the derailment site.

“They’re complaining of burning to their lungs, nasal drainage, eyes burning, throat pain, unknown rashes that have started since they’ve been back to their homes,” she said.

Howard Yang, a manager at CeramFab, a manufacturing company near the derailment site, told the outlet that half of its workers were too sick to work as of Feb. 21. The firm suspended operations for a week due to the release and burning of vinyl chloride, a highly toxic chemical that was being transported by the train.

When his employees started working again on Feb. 13, they “started dropping like flies,” he told the outlet.

“People ended up with rashes, nausea, vomiting, bloody nose, eye issues. A lot of coughing, wheezing,” Yang added. “We sent a lot of workers to the hospital to get checked out and, sure enough, in most cases, it was a diagnosis of ‘chemical bronchitis.’ They were put on five different kinds of pills, including steroids. Some guys have to use inhalers. It’s pretty bad.”

During last week’s Pennsylvania Senate hearing, East Palestine resident Lonnie Miller said she developed a rash on her face. “One of my very best friends has been diagnosed already with chemical bronchitis because she lives right next to the creek,” Miller also said at the hearing, according to reports.

Since the derailment, other East Palestine residents have complained of similar symptoms to other news outlets. Over the weekend, resident Wade Lovett said that after the release of chemicals into the air, his voice now “sounds like Mickey Mouse.”

EPA officials knock on doors and talk to residents in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 16, 2023. Residents of the Ohio village upended by a freight train derailment are demanding to know if they're safe from the toxic chemicals that were released and burned off to avoid a deadly explosion. Lucy Schaly/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP

“My normal voice is low. It’s hard to breathe, especially at night,” he told the New York Post. “My chest hurts so much at night I feel like I’m drowning. I cough up phlegm a lot. I lost my job because the doctor won’t release me to go to work.”

Locals have also reported witnessing animals dying off, including chickens, fish, foxes, cats, and more. Officials last week said that an estimated 43,000 fish and other aquatic animals were found dead in nearby streams and rivers.

Late last week, researchers with Texas A&M and Carnegie Mellon University said that air monitoring revealed that nine out of 50 chemicals tested were at higher concentrations than normal. “If these levels continue, they may be of health concern,” they wrote on Twitter.

Their analysis showed that vinyl chloride, benzene, naphthalene, and acrolein were seen at higher-than-usual levels. They flagged acrolein, which is highly irritating to the skin and eyes, as one of particular concern.

But a spokesperson for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) told The Epoch Times that its data shows that “exposure levels of the 79 monitored chemicals are below levels of concern.” The analysis of chemicals in the air done by Texas A&M also ”assume a lifetime of exposure,” or about 70 years, the spokesperson said.

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All of the rail cars except for the 11 cars held by the National Transportation Safety Board have been removed from the site, which will allow excavation of additional contaminated soil and installation of monitoring wells to check for groundwater contamination, said Anne Vogel, director of the Ohio EPA.

No one was injured when 38 Norfolk Southern cars derailed in a fiery, mangled mess on the outskirts of town, but as fears grew about a potential explosion due to hazardous chemicals in five of the rail cars, officials evacuated the area. They later opted to release and burn toxic vinyl chloride from the tanker cars, sending flames and black smoke billowing into the sky again.

Federal and state officials have repeatedly said it’s safe for evacuated residents to return to the area and that air testing in the town and inside hundreds of homes hasn’t detected any concerning levels of contaminants. The state says the local municipal drinking water system is safe, and bottled water is available for those with private wells.

Despite those assurances, many residents have expressed a sense of mistrust or have lingering questions about what they have been exposed to and how it will impact the future of their families and communities.

“Do not feel they’ve been upfront,” local John Hammer told CBS Pittsburgh last week. “Not from day one.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.