Biden orders door-to-door health surveys in East Palestine as residents report squeaky voices
Officials are conducting door-to-door health surveys of residents of eastern Palestine amid fears of an emerging public health crisis.
A team of 19 employees from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will ask residents to complete 30-minute surveys under President Biden’s orders.
It comes more than three weeks after a chemical train derailment caused an explosion of toxic plumes, sparking a wave of bizarre symptoms among residents near the crash site.
Wade Lovett, 40, claims he has developed a high-pitched, Michael-Jackson-esque voice since the chemical incident and is having trouble breathing.
He told DailyMail.com today that the problem “is getting worse and worse.” Meanwhile, others have reported coughing up gray mucus and sunburn-like injuries, feared due to chemical exposure.
The chemicals on board the train were vinyl chloride, butyl acrylate, benzene residue, glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate and isobutylene
Wade Lovett, 40, is experiencing breathing difficulties and his previously low voice now sounds high and squeaky. He had to leave work because of this
Ayla Antoniazzi told CNN: “I have allowed my four-year-old to return to kindergarten, which is located at East Palestine Elementary School. She went back two days and got a rash on her hands again and started complaining about itching so I pulled her out again’
The toxic chemicals aboard the trains are known to cause long-term damage, meaning these symptoms may be just the beginning for residents.
CDC representatives are expected to move to neighboring Pennsylvania this week and will also target first responders at the derailment site.
Mr Lovett, a car detailer, was previously in good health but has developed a high-pitched, Michael-Jackson-like voice and difficulty breathing since the chemical incident.
He told the New York Post: ‘My voice sounds like Mickey Mouse. My normal voice is low. It’s hard to breathe, especially at night. My chest hurts so much at night that I feel like I’m drowning. I cough up a lot of phlegm.’
He added, “The doctor says I definitely have the chemicals in me.”
But Mr. Lovett was told there are no toxicologists in town and to call and make an appointment.
He told DailyMail.com that his voice “is getting worse and worse.” The more I talk, the worse it gets.”
Mr. Lovett lives with his fiancee about 15 minutes from where the trains derailed, but he works close to the site, which is why he thinks he was hit so hard.
Authorities say aerial surveillance failed to detect dangerous levels of fumes in communities where crews released and burned toxic chemicals from a derailed train
A giant plume of smoke from the aftermath of the incident could be seen from miles away
Melissa Blake lives within a mile of the crash site in eastern Palestine. She said NBC news she began coughing up gray phlegm and struggled to breathe for two days after the train derailed on 3 February.
She left her house and went straight to the emergency room, where doctors diagnosed her with “acute bronchitis due to chemical fumes.”
Mrs. Blake was put on a breathing machine, oxygen and three types of steroids. She has been released from the hospital but has yet to return home.
The symptoms have yet to be officially linked to the derailment, but the toxic chemicals released are known to cause a host of other effects, including cancer.
Exposure to chemicals can cause industrial or chemical bronchitis – inflammation of the airways in the lungs.
Symptoms include a cough that can last for weeks, coughing up phlegm, chest pain, wheezing, and shortness of breath.
In addition to wheezing, a high-pitched voice may occur, caused by air being forced through inflamed airways.
The mucus is usually yellow-green or yellow-grey in color. Inhaled irritants mixed with the mucus can cause it to turn charcoal or gray.
Continued exposure to the irritant can lead to permanent lung damage, according to Mount Sinai.
Howard Young, general manager of CeramFab, a manufacturing company next to the derailment site, said last week that half of the workforce was too sick to work.
Workers had symptoms such as nosebleeds, skin rashes and were diagnosed with chemical bronchitis at the hospital.
Several residents in surrounding areas are documenting their symptoms in Facebook groups and are finding it difficult to get proper medical advice because doctors don’t know what tests to do.
Barbara Levy, a marketing coordinator who lives in Youngstown, Ohio, a 30-minute drive from eastern Palestine, said she was experiencing what felt and looked like a sunburn on her face and was “very itchy.”
She struggles to get enough medical attention and said doctors “don’t want to deal with it.”
YA’OH-Khanah Ashath Shamashon, who lives in Campbell, Ohio, said she and two of her daughters have been getting “hives-like rashes all over our bodies and headaches” for more than a week.
She said, “We can’t leave because we have nowhere to go right now. It worries me because I have a six month old baby. I have not bathed him with the water. I bought gallons of water to bathe him in… This is so upset.”
Ayla and Tyler Antoniazzi said they were considering leaving the area after their two young daughters started showing symptoms.
They live less than a mile from the incident and went back to their home the next day after the evacuation notice was lifted, but told CNN her children “weren’t themselves.”
She said, “My eldest had a rash on her face. The youngest did too, but not as bad. The two-year-old held her eye and complained that her eye hurt. She was very lethargic.’
“I have allowed my four-year-old to return to kindergarten, which is located at East Palestine Elementary School. She went back two days and got a rash on her hands again and started complaining about itching so I pulled her out again,” she added.
Commentators on Twitter have compared the disaster to Chernobyl – the nuclear accident in Ukraine in 1986. Thirty-two people died from radiation sickness, leaving many more seriously unwell.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are finally in town, by order of President Biden, and will visit homes to ask how residents are doing, see what they need and put them in touch with the right people. resources from government and non-profit organizations.
The Ohio Department of Health also opened a health clinic in eastern Palestine last week amid fears of a public health crisis.
It quickly expanded its services to offer free health checks to tens of thousands of Ohio and Pennsylvania residents.
The toxic soup of chemicals released after an Ohio train crash contains two known carcinogens and other substances that can cause convulsions and vomiting.
Railroad operator Norfolk Southern released the chemicals into the atmosphere in a controlled manner days later, which they said was necessary to avert a possible explosion.
Originally, Norfolk Southern released a fact sheet listing the chemicals on the train’s board as vinyl chloride, butyl acrylate, benzene residue, and other flammable liquids.
That turned out then three more dangerous chemicals – glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate and isobutylene – were on board the train.
Vinyl chloride is a carcinogen that can deactivate the central nervous system, while benzene is a naturally occurring colorless or slightly yellow liquid.
Minutes to hours after inhaling benzene, it can cause symptoms such as drowsiness, dizziness, increased or irregular heartbeat, headache, confusion, unconsciousness, and even death at very high levels.
Ethylene glycol monobutyl ether is a liquid used in paint strippers that can cause vomiting, ethylhexyl acrylate is a substance in adhesives that causes drowsiness, and butyl acrylate is a colorless liquid that is also used to make paints, adhesives and sealants.
According to the CDCsevere exposure to the vapor can cause eye irritation, including redness and tearing, an itchy throat, difficulty breathing, and redness and cracking of the skin.
Animals have also been found dead in the area. A North Lima resident about ten miles from the train derailment left her six chickens to die days after the chemical fire started.
Taylor Holzer, a registered fox keeper who lives outside the evacuation perimeter, said WKBN all his foxes were sick and one had died. Dead fish were also spotted in waterways around the crime scene following the incident.