A view of the site of the derailment of a train carrying hazardous waste in East Palestine, Ohio, February 23, 2023. /Reuters
More than three weeks after the Ohio train derailment on February 3, local residents are still exposed to dangerous chemicals, raising concerns about the safety of air and drinking water.
The latest statement from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says they have not detected any levels of health concern in the air and will continue to investigate the impact of the spill on surface and ground water.
However, there is uncertainty regarding the extent to which residents, especially young children, could be harmed.
Dr Fred Henretig, a senior toxicologist at the poison control center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, has suggested that children might be more vulnerable to certain chemicals due to their smaller size and behaviors.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, children have thinner skin and more of it per pound of body weight than adults. This means that if a chemical is splashed on them, their skin may absorb more of it, or it could chemically burn a higher percentage of their skin surface.
Children also breathe in more air per pound of body weight than adults, which increases their risk of inhaling a higher proportion of noxious air. Their smaller airways could exacerbate the issue, Henretig told ABC News.
"Young kids also live closer to the ground and if the gas is heavier than air, the concentration will be greater at two feet above ground than six feet above ground," Henretig said. "And vinyl chloride is a perfect example of a gas that's heavier than air, so that could increase their proportionate exposure."
Moreover, the CDC indicated that children spend more time outside and on the ground, and tend to put their hands in their mouths more frequently than adults do. This increases their risk of exposure to soil toxins if present.
This photo taken with a drone shows portions of a Norfolk Southern freight train that derailed on February 3, in East Palestine, Ohio are still on fire at midday Saturday, February 4, 2023. /AP
The cleanup efforts are ongoing and presently include the removal of contaminated soil and water from under the railroad tracks.
More than 1.7 million gallons of the contaminated liquid has been removed from the derailment site, according to a news release from the Ohio Emergency Management Agency on February 23.
Most of the contaminated water and soil from the train wreck site will be transported to hazardous waste disposal facilities near Houston and Detroit, with around two million gallons of firefighting water expected to be disposed of in Harris County, Texas, according to the county's chief executive.
However, this waste disposal plan has raised the risk that some of the hazardous chemicals could end up polluting other areas, drawing outrage from local residents and officials who fear for their communities' safety.
"We are disturbed to learn that toxic wastewater from East Palestine will be brought to Harris County for disposal. Our county should not be a dumping ground for industry," tweeted Coalition for Environment, Equity, and Resilience.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo expressed frustration that she first learned about the water shipments from the news media, rather than a government agency or Texas Molecular – a hazardous waste disposal facility responsible for receiving and disposing of the liquid waste.
Texas Molecular site is located in a predominantly low-income neighborhood, whose residents are mostly racial minorities, said Bryan Parras, an organizer with the grassroots environmental organization Sierra Club during an interview with The Guardian.
Parras, who grew up in Houston's East End, said that transporting the waste such a long distance is dangerous, as is storing it in the ground.