Ohio Derailment Site Dioxin Levels

This is not looking good , dioxin is bad stuf

Levels of carcinogenic chemical near Ohio derailment site far above safe limit

EPA scientists assessed a dioxin cancer risks threshold in 2010, but a federal cleanup is only triggered at far higher levels

Newly released data shows soil in the Ohio town of East Palestine – scene of a recent catastrophic train crash and chemical spill – contains dioxin levels hundreds of times greater than the exposure threshold above which Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) scientists in 2010 found poses cancer risks.

Newly released data shows soil in the Ohio town of East Palestine – scene of a recent catastrophic train crash and chemical spill – contains dioxin levels hundreds of times greater than the exposure threshold above which Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) scientists in 2010 found poses cancer risks. The EPA at the time proposed lowering the cleanup threshold to reflect the science around the highly toxic chemical, but the Obama administration killed the rules, and the higher federal action threshold remains in place.

Though the dioxin levels in East Palestine are below the federal action threshold and an EPA administrator last week told Congress the levels were “very low”, chemical experts, including former EPA officials, who reviewed the data for the Guardian called them “concerning”. The levels found in two soil samples are also up to 14 times higher than dioxin soil limits in some states, and the numbers point to wider contamination, said Linda Birnbaum, a former head of the US National Toxicology Program and EPA scientist. “The levels are not screaming high, but we have confirmed that dioxins are in East Palestine’s soil,” she said. “The EPA must test the soil in the area more broadly.”

The data probably confirms fears that the controlled burn of vinyl chloride in the days after the train wreck in the town created dioxin and dispersed it throughout the area, experts say, though they stressed the new data is of limited value because only two soil samples were checked. The train crash in East Palestine and its toxic aftermath has become a major issue in the US with locals and activists decrying a lack of action by both the government and the train operator, Norfolk Southern. The state of Ohio has now sued the rail giant over the derailment, calling it one of a “long string” of incidents involving the company. Dioxins are a class of chemicals that are a byproduct produced when chlorine is burned, which is a common industrial process in making products like PVC.

The chemicals are highly persistent and can accumulate and stay for years in the environment or human bodies. Among other health issues, the compounds are linked to cancer, diabetes, heart disease, nervous system disorders and other serious health problems. Soil and food contamination are considered to be among the most common exposure routes. After resisting calls for weeks to test for dioxins, the EPA on 3 March announced it would order Norfolk Southern to do so. Separately, Indiana last week commissioned testing of East Palestine soil because one of the state’s landfills is storing it. The testing was conducted by what Birnbaum characterized as a reputable laboratory.

ut while the EPA can claim that the levels are “low” from a legal standpoint, the agency’s own science suggests they are not safe, and dioxin experts who spoke with the Guardian cast doubt on Shore’s and Holcomb’s assessments. Regulators establish the toxicity of dioxins in a soil sample by calculating the “toxicity equivalence” of all dioxins in the soil compared with the most toxic dioxin compound, called 2,3,7,8 TCDD. East Palestine soil showed levels of “2,3,7,8 TCDD toxicity equivalence” of 700 parts per trillion (ppt).

The level at which the EPA will initiate cleanup action in residential areas is 1,000 ppt. However, the cleanup triggers are much lower in many states – 90 ppt in Michigan, and 50 ppt in California. “So based on this, the concentrations are actually concerning,” said Carsten Prasse, an organic chemist at Johns Hopkins University and scientific adviser for SimpleLab. Federal cleanup standards of 1,000 ppt apply in Ohio. Moreover, EPA scientists in 2010 put the cancer risk threshold for dioxins in residential soil at 3.7 ppt, and the agency recommended lowering the cleanup trigger to 72 ppt.

“When you run the numbers and do your best state-of-the-art risk calculations, that’s the number you get for the cancer risk,” said Stephen Lester, a toxicologist who has researched dioxins for 40 years and is science director for the Center for Health, Environment and Justice. “That’s why dioxins are described as one of the most toxic chemicals ever created.” The rules were ultimately killed ”for political reasons”, Lester said. Exposure to that level of dioxin is probably widespread, and making the change would create fallout that would be extremely difficult for the government to manage, he added.

For a heads up where this can go, the Seveso disaster is one event where a large cloud of Dioxin was released from an industrial accident. There have been a few others.

At the time, a lot of dead small animals as with this East Palestine event. One study that looks at the 20 year implications:

Cancer incidence in the population exposed to dioxin after the "Seveso accident": twenty years of follow-up

Conclusion

... Overall, our findings support the evaluation that TCDD represents a carcinogenic hazard to exposed people, at least at the levels experienced by this population after an industrial accident.

Mike Adam also has an audio report on the EPA efforts in this disaster:

Situation Update, Mar 18, 2023 - EPA finally admits to toxic DIOXIN FALLOUT from Ohio train catastrophe

a reply to: kwakakev

Good point that case . Another one that happened in USA was Times Beach, Missouri: .

A Town, a Flood, and Superfund: Looking Back at the Times Beach Disaster Nearly 40 Years Later


Times Beach, Missouri


Times Beach – The Contaminated Ghost Town


look at the timeline of Times Beach, Missouri.....it taked years for them to do something...ooops after people were allready having health problems.

when I was little an incident occurred at a place called Times Beach. Interesting story..My wife family was one who had to move when the river flooded.

Guys name was Russel Bliss. Real pos..he was paid to get rid of an oil bi-product which he did by spraying it on gravel roads, his idea was the oil would settle the dust..well he used it in his horse barn also…week later 70 of them died..thats how it started…look up Times Beach, the info I have given was passed down and probably different from the OS, the details I have given are correct…would be an interesting study for someone..p.s. it was an agent orange bi-product
symptoms of dioxin poisoning
1.increased long term bitchiness
2.have to have everything Your way
3.makes you never stand up to in laws
4.makes you not appreciate anything or take your time

these symptoms may be unique to the people I know affected by dioxin
Ghost town

a reply to: Kenzo

bring the dome...

a reply to: Terpene


Or just evacuate people from effected places . The train company and it's shareholders should pay all of the cost of moving people to new place, Vanguard , BlacRock etc....surely they do have a lot money ?

a reply to: Kenzo

Not good! They last particularly long in animals/humans

Dioxins are extremely stable and consequently tend to accumulate in the food chain. They are eliminated very slowly in animals, e.g. TCDD has a half-life of 7 to 9 years in humans.[4][7][8] Incidents of contamination with PCBs are often reported as dioxin contamination incidents since these are of most public and regulatory concern.[9][1]

a reply to: Kenzo

they do and not because they spend it on non-profit, they are probably already making profit off of that crisis.

maybe Halliburton, but they are always busy making a buck of the latest war zone.