Ohio Residents Experiencing Health Complications Following Spill

By Ophelia Garrett

In Brief:

Urgent Care employees in East Palestine, Ohio report increasing numbers of patients with strange symptoms following the recent train derailment and toxic spill. They are calling it “chemical bronchitis.”

The Background: 

According to local news outlets in East Palestine, the toxic air after the train derailment is harming residents’ health.  

“This could be a lot of things, but if you’re leaving your house and [symptoms] improve, and you go back and it comes back, I’m not thinking that’s allergies or not thinking it’s a cold,” QUICKmed’s Deb Weese told WKBN. “I think it’s related to that stuff you’re inhaling there.”

Weese, a Nurse Practitioner, later said that this would appear to be a form of “chemical bronchitis.”

She further stated, “Let’s face it: If it comes down to it, it might be something in the future that comes about from all these chemicals they’re breathing in that we don’t know about, so it’s important that they document all of their symptoms.” 

President Biden has yet to visit the site of the derailment, over a month later.

Notable Quotes: 

"Now that we are entering into a longer-term phase of this, people are going to be concerned about the long-term chronic exposure that comes at lower levels." –Karen Dannemiller, a professor at Ohio State University