The air in East Palestine contains “higher than normal” levels of nine potentially harmful chemicals, according to scientists.
Experts from Texas A&M and Carnegie Mellon University conducted their own air quality tests using a mobile test unit in eastern Palestine.
They said if chemicals remain at current levels, they could lead to long-term health problems for residents, the researchers warned.
The result stands in stark contrast to the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) continued assurances that air quality in the region is safe.
While they said the findings don’t necessarily represent an “immediate health concern,” repeated exposure over time could be harmful.
The chemicals on board the train were vinyl chloride, butyl acrylate, residual benzene, glycol monobutyl ether, ethyl hexyl acrylate and isobutylene
Wade Lovett (40) struggles to breathe and his previously quiet voice now sounds high and wheezing. As a result, he had to give up his job
There are already warning signs among residents, including reports of altered voices and skin rashes that look like chemical burns.
Dr. Albert Presto is an associate professor of mechanical engineering at the Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation at Carnegie Mellon, involved in the university’s chemical monitoring efforts in East Palestine.
He told local news agency WKBN: “The material that is dumped on the ground or in the water can come out of the ground again if the temperature changes or if the wind blows.”
Dr. Presto also told CNN, “It’s not so high that evacuating the building is necessarily an immediate health concern.
“But we don’t necessarily know what the long-term risk is or how long the concentration causing that risk will last.”
The mobile test van has been used by the team for the past decade to see how air pollution varies in places like Pittsburgh and Baltimore.
They compared their data in eastern Palestine with levels of the same chemicals recorded by the EPA this month.
Yesterday, the EPA analyzed the air in 578 homes and said levels of chemical pollutants were no higher than residential air quality standards.
A large plume of smoke from the aftermath of the incident could be seen for miles
Ayla Antoniazzi told CNN, “I let my four-year-old go back to preschool, which is located at East Palestine Elementary School. She went back two days and got a rash on her hands again and started complaining about itching so I undressed her again.
Acrolein was calculated to be of greatest concern to residents, researchers from Texas A&M and Carnegie Mellon University found.
According to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, acrolein is a clear, colorless gas or pale yellow, strong-smelling liquid.
It evaporates easily at normal temperatures, producing toxic concentrations.
It is toxic regardless of the route of exposure. It causes inflammation and irritation of the skin, airways and mucous membranes.
Delayed pulmonary edema – excess fluid in the lungs – can occur after inhalation.
This can lead to coughing, chest pain and fatigue.
It is formed when fossil fuels are burned and is also a byproduct of combustion.
The other eight chemicals with higher than average concentrations are: benzene, vinyl chloride, butadiene, naphthalene, o-xylene, trichlorethylene, trichloroethane and butadiene.
Biden orders door-to-door health checks in eastern Palestine
Officials are conducting door-to-door health surveys of residents in eastern Palestine amid fears of a looming public health crisis.
Vinyl chloride is a colorless, man-made gas that burns easily.
It is mainly used to make polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a hard plastic resin used to make plastic products, including pipe, wire and cable outer parts.
It is not known or suspected that PVC does not cause cancer, but vinyl chloride has been linked to a higher risk of a rare form of liver cancer (hepatic angiosarcoma) as well as primary liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma), brain and lung cancer, and lymphoma leukemia .
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) lists vinyl chloride as a human carcinogen, meaning that there is sufficient scientific evidence that it causes cancer in humans.
People exposed to vinyl chloride for many years are likely to develop liver damage and cancer.
It most likely enters a person’s body through inhalation, but can also be ingested through contaminated drinking water.
The chemical travels through the body in the blood and liver, breaking it down into other chemicals, some of which can be more harmful than the vinyl chloride itself.
According to GGD, the gas has a faint sweet smell, but the threshold at which it begins to smell is “too high to provide adequate warning of dangerous levels.”
This means people can be overexposed to it without even realizing it’s in the air.
Five minutes of exposure to more than twice the amount that can be smelled can cause dizziness.
At concentrations five times higher, exposure can cause drowsiness, loss of coordination, vision and hearing problems, disorientation, nausea, headache and burning or tingling in the arms and legs.
Prolonged exposure can cause death by shutting down the central nervous system. The gas is also found in tobacco smoke.
When burned or heated to a sufficiently high temperature, the gas turns into hydrogen chloride, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and traces of phosgene.
Local residents have been reporting symptoms since the derailment earlier this month.
Wade Lovett, 40, claims he has developed a high-pitched, Michael Jackson-like voice and is struggling to breathe since the chemical spill.
He told DailyMail.com on Monday that the problem was “getting worse and worse”.
answer now
Mr. Lovett, a car detailer, used to be in good health, but since the chemical incident he has developed a high-pitched, Michael Jackson-like voice and difficulty breathing.
He told the New York Post: “My voice sounds like Mickey Mouse. My normal voice is low. It is difficult to breathe, especially at night. My chest hurts so much at night it feels like I’m drowning. I’m coughing up a lot of mucus.’
He added: “The doctor says I definitely have the chemicals in me.”
Ayla and Tyler Antoniazzi said they were considering leaving the area after their two young daughters started showing symptoms.
They live less than a mile from the incident and returned to their home the next day after the evacuation notice was lifted, but told CNN their children were “not themselves.”
She said: “My eldest had a rash on her face. The youngest too, but not as bad. The two-year-old closed her eye and complained that her eye hurt. She was very lethargic.’
“I allowed my four-year-old to return to Kindergarten, which is located at East Palestine Primary School. She went back two days and got a rash on her hands again and started complaining of itching so I took them off again,” she added.
Source link
Crystal Leahy is an author and health journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a background in health and wellness, Crystal has a passion for helping people live their best lives through healthy habits and lifestyles.
