University of Pittsburgh researcher Juliane Beier is a leading authority on how colorless, sweet-smelling vinyl chloride can cause cancer and worsen liver disease.
Her expertise meant she feared the worst when vinyl chloride vapors — the result of a controversial vent-and-burn operation by first responders — began billowing from derailed train cars in East Palestine, Ohio, and wafting into Western Pennsylvania.
“I immediately thought this could have huge potential effects on the population,” she said.
Three years since dozens of Norfolk Southern train cars spewed hazardous chemicals into the air and water surrounding the Ohio village, the health consequences remain unclear.
Officials haven’t attributed any deaths to the Feb. 3, 2023, disaster, but some community members say they’ve experienced breathing issues, migraines and other medical problems since the incident.
“The more and more people talk, the more people realize they’re having issues today that they didn’t have three years ago,” said Hilary Flint, director of communications and community engagement for Beaver County Marcellus Awareness Group.
The research
Beier is part of a five-year, $10 million research initiative funded by the National Institutes of Health to document these strange symptoms and determine if they’re tied to the derailment.
The project took a major step forward Tuesday, when the institute opened an office in East Palestine to help coordinate research and enroll participants in a health study.
The center “offers the people of East Palestine a pathway to clear answers about their health they deserve,” U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a statement.
The health study, led by the University of Kentucky, is the centerpiece of the initiative.
Up to 550 enrollees will get a full medical examination this year at a clinic in East Palestine. Annual follow-up appointments will last through 2029.
Those participants will be compared to a smaller control group in Cambridge, Ohio, almost 100 miles southwest of East Palestine.
Beier’s team is specifically using blood draws to check for liver and thyroid dysfunction.
It’s possible people in and around East Palestine are just as healthy as their Cambridge counterparts, she said. But if there are effects from the chemical exposures, it’s important people know as soon as possible — especially when it comes to liver disease.
By the time symptoms appear, the damage is often permanent, according to Beier.
Sign-ups for the health study are being accepted on the University of Kentucky website or at the East Palestine office, which is housed within the Way Station social services hub.
Erin Haynes, a University of Kentucky professor and the study’s principal investigator, encouraged anyone in the East Palestine area or Western Pennsylvania to take the survey, even if they don’t have any symptoms.
A wider pool of responses can help pinpoint issues specific to certain age groups or geographies, she explained.
As part of the initiative, Yale University is also examining possible water contamination.
Rail safety
Health research in East Palestine is still going strong, but efforts spearheaded by Pennsylvania and Ohio lawmakers to prevent future disasters are stalled.
The Railway Safety Act has been stuck in a House committee for over a year, despite its bipartisan origins. It was introduced by Sen. John Fetterman, D-Braddock, as well as then-Sen. JD Vance, a Republican, and former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, both of Ohio.
Key provisions include higher fines for safety violations, a requirement that railroads install defect detectors and a mandatory minimum of two workers on each train.
Rep. Chris Deluzio, D-Fox Chapel, has also taken up rail safety advocacy, and is the prime sponsor of the bill’s latest version. Deluzio’s district includes all of Beaver County, which is adjacent to East Palestine, just over the Ohio border line.
In a statement, he cheered the National Institutes of Health-funded study as a way to understand how Norfolk Southern’s “incompetence and negligence may be impacting peoples’ health.”
A Norfolk Southern spokesperson said the railroad has followed through on its commitments to restore the derailment site and local waterways while establishing long-term community health monitoring plans.
In 2024, the company settled a class action lawsuit over the incident for $600 million, with part of the funds dedicated to compensating residents within a 10-mile radius for personal injury.