On February 3, 2023, 38 cars derailed on a Norfolk Southern freight train near East Palestine, Ohio, 11 cars of which carried hazardous chemicals. The derailment was caused by an overheated wheel bearing that failed after warnings and alarms were ignored by the company.Three days later, company and government officials carried out a so‑called “controlled release and burn” in which five tanker cars carrying 1.1 million pounds of vinyl chloride were punctured and set on fire.This produced a towering inferno over 300 feet high and a black plume visible for miles that sent contaminants across the surrounding countryside. Chemicals that didn’t burn flooded into the ground and nearby creeks.Jami’s home, shared with her husband and daughter, was within a mile of the site. They evacuated that evening alone with most of the town’s residents.Norfolk Southern and government officials declared it safe to return two days later, and within 15 minutes of lifting the evacuation order, trains began rumbling through the town again.https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2026/01/16/xswm-j16.html
>>526139157“With hotels in the area booking up, we slept on the floor of my brother’s hotel room thinking we would be home in the morning.“When the evacuation was lifted, my husband asked where we were going and I said home. If the EPA said it was safe, it was safe.“As soon as I pulled in the driveway, I started coughing, face was burning, my skin was turning red and I knew, my body knew it was not safe to be there.“Almost immediately following the derailment and burning, residents began complaining of respiratory problems, blistering noses, burning eyes and sore throats. Many suffered from headaches, nausea and dizziness.“A week after the derailment, I was having a lot of issues breathing and coughing. I was diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection.“I took antibiotics and steroids but that didn’t help. I went back and they put me through three rounds of steroids and antibiotics and it still didn’t go away.
>>526139504Jami later became a leader of a community group, the Unity Council for the EP Train Derailment, which fought for residents to reject a class action settlement which left the railroad off the hook. She says, based on her connections with other residents, similar issues are affecting hundreds of residents throughout the area.“A woman contacted me [that] her husband died of lung cancer about six months ago. She has just been diagnosed with breast cancer in one breast and now they want to biopsy her other breast.“A man came down with a rare form of breast cancer after the derailment, and he had to have a double mastectomy. Now the cancer is moving to other parts of his body. Many people have had surgery on their thyroids and had their thyroid removed.“A friend of mine called and her husband both got diagnosed with neuropathy. Another friend and her husband are on seizure medication.“In the beginning,” Jami said. “There were more symptoms. We saw a lot of people with upper respiratory infections, chemical bronchitis or rashes.“Then we started seeing things like seizures, so you could tell it was getting a little worse. Seizures, neuropathy, things like that. And now we’re seeing a lot of heart attacks and cancers and things of that nature. I just watched it move from symptoms to long-term illness and now we’re already seeing terminal illnesses.”Asked if she knew for sure that these illnesses are caused by vinyl chloride exposure, Jami said no. She explains that when the testing is done to establish safe levels of exposure it is only done on one chemical at a time, not the soup of chemicals they were exposed to.“We can learn from our past disasters. When you look at every other chemical disaster in the United States—they all have respiratory issues; they all have thyroid issues; they all have neurological issues; they all have gastrointestinal issues.
