In a March 31 statement provided to The Epoch Times, CDC spokesperson Belsie Gonzalez advised that the illnesses occurred on March 6, when seven members of a 15-person team of CDC and Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) staff reported symptoms such as sore throat, headache, coughing, and nausea.

Their symptoms, Gonzalez noted, were consistent with those reported by some East Palestine residents and first responders, whom the team was surveying to assess the potential health effects of their exposure to the chemicals released by the Feb. 3 derailment.

Sore Throats, Headaches, Nausea

“Following protocol, team members reported the symptoms to federal safety officers,” she said.

“Symptoms resolved for most team members later the same afternoon, and everyone resumed work on survey data collection within 24 hours. Impacted team members have not reported ongoing health effects.”

Gonzalez added that the survey collection process, which started mid-February, will end on March 31.

“Once completed, CDC/ATSDR staff will analyze the data and provide it to state health officials in Ohio and Pennsylvania,” she said. “FEMA and EPA teams remain on the ground to support response efforts.”

News of the government employees’ illnesses followed the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) filing of a lawsuit on March 31 against Norfolk Southern, seeking to hold the railroad company accountable for “unlawfully polluting the nation’s waterways” through the toxic derailment.

“When a Norfolk Southern train derailed last month in East Palestine, Ohio, it released toxins into the air, soil, and water, endangering the health and safety of people in surrounding communities,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

‘Pursuing Justice’

“With this complaint, the Justice Department and the EPA are acting to pursue justice for the residents of East Palestine and ensure that Norfolk Southern carries the financial burden for the harm it has caused and continues to inflict on the community.”

In the complaint, the DOJ noted that the chemicals involved in the spill—which included the highly toxic and flammable gas of vinyl chloride, among others—had previously been linked to adverse health effects.

“Exposure to these hazardous materials at sufficiently high levels has been associated variously with an increased risk of cancer; risks to fetal development; damage to organs like the liver, kidneys, lungs, and skin; and other health conditions,” the filing states.

In the short term, East Palestine residents have reported a range of concerning symptoms in the wake of the derailment, nausea, headaches, rashes, burning sensations, and difficulty breathing.

In a class action lawsuit East Palestine residents filed last month against Norfolk Southern, one resident reported experiencing a “sudden and unprecedented bout of dizziness” the day after the derailment, as well as “intense” coughing fits, shortness of breath, and sharp pain in his head.

And despite state and federal officials’ assurances that the air and water in the area are safe, many remain doubtful and uncertain as to what long-term health effects they might experience.

The DOJ’s lawsuit, filed at the request of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan, asks the court to find Norfolk Southern liable for the government’s response costs and require the company to “take appropriate actions to remedy, mitigate, and offset the harm to public health and the environment.”

“From the very beginning, I pledged to the people of East Palestine that EPA would hold Norfolk Southern fully accountable for jeopardizing the community’s health and safety,” Regan said.

“No community should have to go through what East Palestine residents have faced.

“With today’s action, we are once more delivering on our commitment to ensure Norfolk Southern cleans up the mess it made and pays for the damage they have inflicted as we work to ensure this community can feel safe at home again.”

Article cross-posted from our premium news partners at The Epoch Times.

According to Twitter user Officer Lew:

Norfolk Southern train derailed in Calhoun County, Alabama. This would be the company’s third such incident since early Feb.

https://twitter.com/officer_Lew/status/1633894768332746752

As NBC News reported, CEO Alan Shaw was slated to talk about derailments before Congress today as well.

A Norfolk Southern train derailed Thursday in Calhoun County, Alabama, hours before company CEO Alan Shaw faced lawmakers to answer questions about a Feb. 3 derailment that led to a toxic chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio.

The train was traveling from Atlanta to Meridian, Mississippi, when it derailed at around 6:45 a.m. in the Quad Cities area of White Plains, officials said.

There were no reports of injuries and no reports of a hazardous leak after approximately 30 cars derailed, the Calhoun County Emergency Management Agency said in a news release.

“Norfolk Southern has responded and is working closely with us,” an agency spokesperson said in a statement. “Norfolk Southern has their cleanup crew on site and there is no estimation on how long it will take.”

We will continue to monitor this situation, but it’s not looking good for Norfolk Southern or America.

The Feb. 3 derailment triggered officials to initiate a controlled release and burn of various chemicals as they cited concerns that those materials would explode and send out deadly shrapnel. Chemicals carried on the Norfolk Southern-operated train include toxic vinyl chloride gas, which was vented and burned, releasing a large cloud of black smoke that hung over the area for days.

A plume of chemicals from the train derailment was also detected heading down the Ohio River, although some Ohio environmental officials assert that they may largely be fire retardant substances used to put out the fire. Other chemicals carried on the train include butyl acrylate, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether acetate, and 2-ethylhexyl acrylate, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said (pdf).

Residents of East Palestine were told they could return to their homes on Feb. 8. Since then, there have been reports from locals of adverse health events they’ve suffered amid separate reports of animals, including fish and chickens, dying off.

“When we went back on the 10th, that’s when we decided that we couldn’t raise our kids here,” local Amanda Greathouse told CNN, adding that in the area, there was a smell that “reminded me of hair perming solution.”

About 30 minutes after returning home earlier this month, she developed nausea and a rash, Greathouse told the network. Her house is located about a block from the train derailment site.

“When we left, I had a rash on my skin on my arm, and my eyes were burning for a few days after that,” added Greathouse, who said she has two preschool-age children.

“The chemical smell was so strong that it made me nauseous,” Greathouse said. “I just wanted to quickly pick up what I needed and leave. I only took a few pieces of clothes because even the clothes smelled like chemicals, and I’m afraid to put them on my kids.”

Another local, Katlyn Schwarzwaelder, said she and her boyfriend, Chris, returned home to East Palestine earlier this month. A rash broke out almost instantly after she came back, she told NewsNation.

“I undressed to get into the shower, and I had a rash all over the side of my face on both sides and all over my chest,” Schwarzwaelder said, adding: “My boyfriend Chris also had a rash on his left side, and I mean to this moment, right now, I have just a really low-grade constant headache.”

Dave Anderson, a farmer in nearby New Galilee, Pennsylvania, told the Washington Post last week that both he and his family have experienced a burning sensation in the mouth, tongue, and lips about a day after the crash. Other symptoms reported include tongue swelling, runny nose, and watery eyes.

Anderson added that “our tongues still feel like they have been scalded—like if you drank something that was too hot.”

“I’m going to East Palestine and will get a glass of water, and I’m going to ask him to drink it because I don’t believe it,” said Dave Anderson, a farmer in nearby New Galilee, Pennsylvania. Anderson, a plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit against Norfolk Southern, said his cattle have had diarrhea since the disaster.

A spokesman for DeWine told the Washington Post last Thursday that no doctors have seen patients who have been able to identify the chemical release as the cause of their symptoms. “There’s usually another explanation for those symptoms,” including colds and influenza, spokesman Dan Tierney told the paper, although he did not provide specific evidence for that statement.

And over the weekend, the CEO of Norfolk Southern, Alan Shaw, visited East Palestine and again vowed to clean up the crash site. His firm is already facing several class-action lawsuits connected to the derailment.

“I know there are still a lot of questions without answers. I know you’re tired. I know you’re worried,” Shaw said in a statement. “We will not let you down.”

Article cross-posted from our premium news partners at The Epoch Times.

As a so-called “conspiracy theorist,” I’ve been exploring the possibility. I was ready to dismiss it as too unlikely yesterday for one major reason: The derailment happened in the wrong place. If the globalist elite cabal or any other powerful anti-American organizations wanted to have maximum effect, why would they wait until it was half-way between Akron, Ohio, and Pittsburg, Pennsylvania? Thirty or forty miles in either direction would have had a bigger impact, and if we know anything about the schemes of the bad guys it’s that they invariably go as big as possible.

But just as I was ready to mark it down as too far-fetched to explore, a video emerged showing the train was on fire at least 20 miles from the point of derailment. Was the train supposed to derail closer to Akron, closer to Cincinnati, where it could have had a greater impact on the Great Lakes and therefore the water supply for much of central and eastern United States? Did we dodge a bullet because the derailment happened many miles after they had planned for it to happen?

According to an article from The Epoch Times:

Security camera footage has emerged showing that the Ohio train that derailed in East Palestine may have been on fire for 20 miles before it finally went off the tracks and burst into flames.

The footage, which was first obtained by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, was taken by a security camera at an equipment plant in Salem, Ohio. East Palestine is around 20 miles away from Salem.

As the train passes the plant, what looks like flames and sparks can be seen in the video underneath the train cars.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which is investigating the derailment, appeared to reference the video—and others—at a news conference in the days immediately after the incident took place on Feb. 3.

“We’re also looking at a lot of different footage that has been provided to the investigators out there to determine if there’s some data on footage that we have from videos and cameras that might tell us something more that what might have happened to cause this accident,” Michael Graham, a member of the NTSB, said in a Feb. 4 briefing.

‘Mechanical Issues’

At a follow-on briefing on Feb. 5, Graham said that investigators had also secured the locomotive data recorder earlier that day, along with forward- and inward-facing camera footage and audio recordings. Graham said the locomotive footage would be sent to a Washington lab for evaluation and analysis, before adding that other videos have emerged suggesting a possible problem with one of the rail car’s axles.

At this point, we have nothing but speculation but it’s compelling. I’ll give it about a 10% chance that it was intentional, but I’m open to taking those chances higher if we see more evidence that someone was behind this all. At the very least, this means that we should continue to investigate the possibility that it was sabotaged. I discussed this on today’s episode of The JD Rucker Show.

Alternative Video Source:

The footage, which was first obtained by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, was taken by a security camera at an equipment plant in Salem, Ohio. East Palestine is around 20 miles away from Salem.

As the train passes the plant, what looks like flames and sparks can be seen in the video underneath the train cars.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which is investigating the derailment, appeared to reference the video—and others—at a news conference in the days immediately after the incident took place on Feb. 3.

“We’re also looking at a lot of different footage that has been provided to the investigators out there to determine if there’s some data on footage that we have from videos and cameras that might tell us something more that what might have happened to cause this accident,” Michael Graham, a member of the NTSB, said in a Feb. 4 briefing.

‘Mechanical Issues’

At a follow-on briefing on Feb. 5, Graham said that investigators had also secured the locomotive data recorder earlier that day, along with forward- and inward-facing camera footage and audio recordings. Graham said the locomotive footage would be sent to a Washington lab for evaluation and analysis, before adding that other videos have emerged suggesting a possible problem with one of the rail car’s axles.

“We have obtained two videos which show preliminary indications of mechanical issues on one of the rail car axles,” Graham said at the Feb. 5 briefing, adding that the NTSB team was working to identify which rail car experienced the potential mechanical issue.

Graham said the train crew received an alarm from a “wayside defect detector shortly before the derailment, indicating a mechanical issue.”

“Then an emergency brake application initiated,” he continued, adding that a preliminary investigative report was expected within several weeks, though a full probe could take as long as 24 months.

Some of the footage was again referenced in a Feb. 14 update, in which the NTSB said that a surveillance video from a residence showed “what appears to be a wheel bearing in the final stage of overheat failure moments before the derailment.”

“The wheelset from the suspected railcar has been collected as evidence for metallurgical examination,” the NTSB stated.

Investigators have found the suspected overheated wheel bearing, and engineers from the NTSB Materials Laboratory in Washington would examine it.

Investigators will complete their examination of the 11 tank cars that contained hazardous materials once they’re fully decontaminated, the NTSB said.

A total of around 50 train cars derailed in East Palestine on Feb. 3, with some containing the toxic chemical vinyl chloride, which at high concentrations can be deadly.

Short-term exposure to the chemical can cause dizziness, headaches, and respiratory problems. Long-term exposure has been linked to various health problems, including liver damage, immune system dysfunction, and certain types of cancer.

The derailment prompted evacuation orders in East Palestine, a town of around 5,000.

The wreckage burned for days, and officials worried that the highly-flammable vinyl chloride could lead to an uncontrolled explosion, so crews engineered controlled detonations.

Besides being burned off in a controlled fashion, contaminants from derailed cars also spilled into waterways, with officials tracking a large “plume” of chemicals flowing down the Ohio River.

Around 3,500 fish have been killed by the chemical spill, according to an estimate by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, with around 7 miles of streams affected by the toxins.

Tiffani Kavalec, the head of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) water management subdivision, said in a news conference on Tuesday that the plume is on its way toward Huntington, West Virginia, and that it consists mostly of “fire combustion chemicals.”

Kavalec said that the plume is moving downriver at around 1 mph and becoming increasingly more diluted, adding that the Ohio EPA doesn’t believe the chemicals pose a threat to drinking water. The Ohio River is “able to dilute the pollutants pretty quickly,” Kavalec said, adding that “we are seeing very low levels of contaminants” in the river.

The EPA said that water sampling is being carried out at various points along the river to ensure drinking water is safe.

“State and local agencies are conducting sampling throughout the Ohio River to ensure drinking water intakes aren’t affected, and EPA is continuing to assist the state with sampling efforts at water treatment intake points along the Ohio River,” the EPA said in a Feb. 14 update.

Bottled Water Advisory

Ohio officials have urged some locals living near the train derailment site in East Palestine to only use bottled water amid concerns over the potential health impacts of hazardous chemicals that spilled into the Ohio River.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine told a press conference on Tuesday that the pollution did not pose a serious threat to the 5 million or so people who rely on the Ohio River for their drinking water. Still, DeWine and other Ohio officials warned that residents using private wells near the derailment should only use bottled water.

“For right now, I think bottled water’s the right answer,” Ohio Health Director Bruce Vanderhoff said at the press conference. Asked by reporters whether he would return home amid cleanup efforts, DeWine said he’d be back home but would not be drinking water from the tap.

“I think that I would be drinking the bottled water,” DeWine said. “And I would be continuing to find out what the tests were showing as far as the air.”

“I would be alert and concerned,” he continued, adding, “But I think I would probably be back in my house.”

DeWine said on Feb. 8 that it was safe for local residents to return to their homes.

Lingering Questions

People in and around East Palestine have been asking whether the air and water are safe for their families, pets, and livestock after the derailment caused a fire that sent a cloud of toxic smoke over the town.

There have been reports of sick or dead animals and persistent odors, while the EPA said that a number of hazardous chemicals were found at the site of the derailment, including vinyl chloride, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate, isobutylene, and butyl acrylate.

The EPA has been carrying out community air monitoring in East Palestine around the clock, saying in Tuesday’s update that it has “not detected any levels of health concern in the community that are attributed to the train derailment.”

As of Tuesday, the agency had screened 396 homes, and “no detections of vinyl chloride or hydrogen chloride were identified,” the EPA said.

But while the EPA has said that air monitoring hasn’t detected any hazards to health associated with the derailment, some locals have told media outlets that their health has suffered since returning home.

Jack Phillips contributed to this report. Article cross-posted from our premium news partners at The Epoch Times.

“I’m trying to gather information on this very serious situation in Ohio involving a train derailment with hazardous chemicals,” Brockovich wrote on Twitter over the past weekend. “What I will say is this. Trust your eyes, ears and nose and get the hell out of there if your senses are telling you too.”

On Monday afternoon, Brockovich—who was the subject of the 2000 Academy Award-winning film “Erin Brockovich”—called on the federal government to be more transparent.

“The Biden administration needs to get more involved in this #PalestineOhio train derailment now. We are counting on you to break the chain of administration after administration to turn a blind eye. STEP UP NOW,” she wrote.

Earlier this month, a train with about four-dozen freight cars heading from Illinois to Pennsylvania derailed in East Palestine, sparking state officials to issue an evacuation of the area amid a “controlled release,” meaning burning, of toxic materials. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said that the train was carrying hazardous materials, including the highly toxic vinyl chloride.

So far, there have been some reports from local residents of animals dying off, including fish, chickens, and livestock. One local official confirmed there was a fish die-off in waterways around East Palestine.

“Leslie Run comes out of East Palestine and that goes into Bull Creek, which then goes into North Fork. And we know for sure that there has been some fish kill in Leslie Run and Bull Creek, and some portions of the North Fork,” Matthew Smith, assistant regional scenic river manager for the Division of Natural Areas and Preserves, told WTDN.

The Epoch Times has contacted the EPA, Department of Transportation, and several other federal agencies for comment. Few federal officials have made mention of the derailment and toxic fire, while Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg did not reference the incident on Monday morning.

On Sunday, the EPA issued an update to its website, posting a document from train operator Norfolk Southern that confirmed it was carrying more chemicals. Glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate, and isobutylene were also in the rail cars that were either on fire, derailed, or breached.

“EPA was initially informed orally of the contents of derailed cars in order to develop a plan for air monitoring. Upon request, Norfolk Southern provided the attached list detailing the rail cars that may have derailed in the incident,” the update said. “This was created by Norfolk Southern and EPA cannot speak to the design or creation of this document.”

Amid reports of animals dying off and locals saying they’ve suffered from respiratory problems in recent days, the EPA said that it is continuing to monitor the air quality around East Palestine.

“Air monitoring since the fire went out has not detected any levels of concern in the community that can be attributed to the incident at this time. For example, there have been some exceedances of PM2.5 screening values, but those are both upwind and downwind of the derailment site so likely had another cause,” said the EPA’s update.

A reporter with the Washington Post interviewed several East Palestine residents who were evacuated and later returned. One woman, Maura Todd, indicated that she and her family suffered from nausea and headaches, adding that she’s planning on moving to Kentucky.

Another local man, Taylor Howzer, told WKBN that some of his animals became ill in recent days.

“Out of nowhere, he just started coughing really hard, just shut down, and he had liquid diarrhea and just went very fast,” Holzer said. “Smoke and chemicals from the train, that’s the only thing that can cause it, because it doesn’t just happen out of nowhere,” he added. “The chemicals that we’re being told are safe in the air, that’s definitely not safe for the animals … or people.”

And a woman in North Lima said some of her chickens have died after the burning was initiated.

“My video camera footage shows my chickens were perfectly fine before they started this burn, and as soon as they started the burn, my chickens slowed down and they died,” Amanda Breshears of North Lima, Ohio, told local outlet ABC27. “If it can do this to chickens in one night, imagine what it’s going to do to us in 20 years.”

Article cross-posted from The Epoch Times. Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.