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U.S. sues Norfolk Southern for polluting the nation’s waterways, according to court records | added March 31
Read more at WKBN
The United States has filed a lawsuit against Norfolk Southern following last month’s train derailment in East Palestine.
The civil lawsuit claims Norfolk Southern unlawfully polluted the nation’s waterways.
According to court records, the U.S. Attorney General says the derailment led to the combustion of hazardous materials carried by the train, and their release into the air, soil, groundwater and waterways. The U.S. is asking Norfolk Southern pay the full cost of environmental cleanup.
The lawsuit also asks the judge to make Norfolk Southern take action to ensure the safe transport of hazardous materials.
Developing story…
In memory of those who “died suddenly” in the U.S., Mar. 20-27, 2023 | added March 31
Read more at MCM Substack
Gunter Nezhoda, best known for appearing in “Storage Wars,” has died aged 67 following a battle with cancer. Nezhoda died in his sleep on Tuesday night after being diagnosed with lung cancer just six months ago, his son Rene confirmed to TMZ. Rene said his father was diagnosed in September after being a smoker for over 30 years. He said chemotherapy left holes in his dad’s lungs, prompting him to fly to Utah for emergency surgery. Unfortunately, medics told them there was nothing more they could do.
Erik Lomis, the admired distribution executive who handled numerous blockbusters and Oscar winners during his three-decade career in Hollywood, died suddenly Wednesday at his home in Santa Monica. He was 64. As MGM’s head of distribution, Lomis was in the midst of helping parent company Amazon Studios prepare for the release of Ben Affleck’s Air, which opens in theaters April 5. Amazon recently signed Lomis — a champion of the big-screen experience — to a new deal after officially acquiring the storied film studio.
No cause of death reported.
Rapper T.I.‘s former road manager Claybourne “Clay” Evans Jr. [left, above] passed away in an Atlanta hospital after suffering a massive stroke earlier this month. Evans died on Friday, March 24, according to an Instagram post by his family. “It is with a heavy heart that the Evans family announces the untimely passing of my Father, Claybourne Evans Jr,” the post read. “He fought a good fight and transitioned peacefully surrounded by close family and friends on today, March 24, 2023. He lived an extraordinary life filled with Love, Hard Work, and Laughter. He touched many lives…Continue His Legacy.” Evans reportedly suffered a massive stroke at his home on March 8.
No age reported.
Hours of footage leading to East Palestine train derailment has been ‘overwritten’, according to NTSB | added March 31
Read more at Global News
Hours of video footage that documented the events leading up to and the aftermath of a massive train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, have been lost, according to the head of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
The video was recorded from a camera within the train’s cab, and could have provided crucial information about the derailment and what the train’s crew was doing before the fateful accident. The camera in the train had 12 hours of recording time, but “all of that, except 15 minutes before the derailment and 5 minutes after, was overwritten after the accident because they put the locomotive immediately back in service,” said Jennifer L. Homendy, chair of the NTSB.
The NTSB is investigating the Feb. 3 incident, which saw a 38-car train carrying toxic chemicals run off the rails and catch fire, threatening to explode and flatten the nearby small town of East Palestine. Emergency crews eventually drained the hazardous materials, including known carcinogen vinyl chloride, into a trench for a controlled burn, which sent up a massive black plume of phosgene gas and hydrogen chloride into the air.
Ohio lawmakers pass rail safety rules after toxic train derailment in East Palestine | added March 31
Read more at AP News
Rail safety measures proposed after the February train derailment and toxic chemical burn in East Palestine are closer to becoming law in Ohio, as part of a nearly $13.5 billion transportation budget that cleared the Legislature on Wednesday.
A compromise budget plan that chiefly funds work on bridges and highways over the next two years passed both Republican-led chambers with bipartisan support, sending it to GOP Gov. Mike DeWine for expected final approval.
Nearly two months after a Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous materials derailed in a fiery crash in eastern Ohio, lawmakers approved the plan that includes several railway safety provisions. Among them, it would mandate a two-person crew for freight trains; require personnel who receive messages about defects picked up by a railroad’s wayside detector system immediately notify a train operator; and order the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio and Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to submit written reports to the Legislature regarding the transportation of hazardous materials and waste.
Minnesota train derailment underscores rail safety problems when carrying hazardous materials | added March 31
Read more at VOX
A train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed in Raymond, Minnesota, on Thursday, the latest such accident in recent months. Thursday’s incident comes in the wake of a major train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio on February 3, when a Norfolk Southern train carrying toxic chemicals went off the tracks, spewing contaminants into the town’s air and water.
Although train derailments involving hazardous chemicals are relatively rare, the occurrence of the Minnesota derailment so close to the Ohio one has raised questions about train safety and whether new regulations are needed to prevent more of these dangerous incidents from happening in the future. According to the Washington Post, there were 1,049 train derailments last year, and 10 train incidents that involved the spillage of hazardous materials, both figures which are lower than years past.
The train derailment in Minnesota involved a 40-car train, 14 of which were hauling hazardous chemicals including ethanol, according to CNN. BNSF Railway, the company operating the train, says 22 cars derailed and four cars ignited and caught fire. Residents living within a half-mile radius of the accident were asked to evacuate as a safety precaution, though they were able to return home on Thursday afternoon. The train was also carrying corn syrup, and derailed around 1 am Central time.
Authorities lift evacuation in Minnesota town after no environmental safety issues detected | added March 31
Read more at Reuters
Authorities have lifted an evacuation order and said no environmental safety issues were detected after a freight train carrying ethanol derailed near a small town in Minnesota early on Thursday.
The BNSF Railway-operated train derailed at 1:02 a.m. CDT (0602 GMT) and caught fire, forcing some residents to evacuate in the town of Raymond, Minnesota, about 110 miles (180 km) west of Minneapolis. No injuries were reported. The evacuation order was lifted by the Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s Office which also said there was no impact to ground water.
BNSF said “groundwater is unaffected by the incident, and the air monitoring indicates no detectable levels of concern.” The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Federal Railroad Administration are investigating. BNSF, which is owned by Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N), said earlier approximately 22 cars carrying mixed freight, including ethanol and corn syrup, were reported derailed with four cars that had caught fire.
‘Covid’ pandemic led to nearly six-fold increase of global vax injuries, according to Oxford University | added March 31
Editor’s Note: Interesting choice of words to use “scheme” when associating ‘covid’ vax injury claims for compensation. Typically a scheme is associated with manipulation not handling injuries from experimental medical procedures that have caused death and serious injuries. Especially considering the mandate of these drugs as if they are miracle cures when clearly they are not. — mmd
Read more at Reuters
The covid-19 pandemic led to a nearly six-fold increase in the number of non-fault compensation schemes for vaccine injuries globally, said Oxford University researchers who on Friday made public an online database tracking the schemes.
Regulators globally have shown that covid-19 vaccines are safe and adverse events are extremely rare. But in those rare cases, the pandemic exposed problems in some countries — such as in the United States — with vaccine compensation schemes when large proportions of populations are inoculated. The Oxford project’s website could help people who want to make a claim as well as governments, policymakers and academics to see what schemes are available in their country and compare them to elsewhere, the university said in a statement.
The first phase of the three-year research project, funded by drug industry lobby IFPMA (International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations), found that at least 146 countries operated a scheme related to covid-19 vaccines. In January 2020, when the pandemic began, only 26 vaccine compensation schemes existed.
WHO warns new ‘omicron’ subvariant has potential changes that ‘we need to keep a good eye out on’ | added March 31
Read more at U.S. News
The World Health Organization on Wednesday said that it is monitoring XBB.1.16, an omicron subvariant that has been documented mostly in India. “We’re monitoring it because it has potential changes that we need to keep a good eye out on,” Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s covid-19 technical lead, said at a press conference.
The strain has been reported in 22 countries, with the majority of cases coming from India. “In India, XBB.1.16 has replaced the other variants that are in circulation,” Van Kerkhove said. “So this is one to watch.”
India is seeing an increase in coronavirus cases. According to WHO, India is experiencing the highest proportional increase in infections of its region, reporting over 10,500 new cases over the past four weeks compared to nearly 3,000 infections during the previous four weeks. The subvariant has been circulating for a few months, Van Kerkhove said, noting that it doesn’t appear to cause more severe disease.
MP Andrew Bridgen scolded for “conspiracy theories” over WHO ‘covid’ response role | added March 31
Read more at The Epoch Times
Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt has scolded independent MP Andrew Bridgen for sharing “conspiracy theories” after he raised concerns about the World Health Organisation (WHO) in the House of Commons.
Bridgen, MP for North West Leicestershire, told the Commons on Thursday that he was concerned about “proposed changes to the WHO international health regulations which will not require a vote” from Parliament to be approved.
He asked: “Can we urgently have a government statement on these proposed changes which could look set to hand over huge powers to an unelected, unaccountable, discredited supra-national body which is hugely funded by the same people who fund big pharma?” Commons Leader Mordaunt replied: “I think it is incredibly important that we have the facts of whether it is such treaties, whether it is facts about vaccines and so forth out in the public domain.”
Former pharma executive tells RFK Jr. that U.S. military runs ‘covid’ vaccines | added March 31
Read more at The Defender
The U.S. government’s covid-19 vaccination effort is a biological weapon project run by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), according to Alexandra Latypova, a former pharmaceutical research and development executive with 25 years of industry experience.
Latypova, who oversaw compliance for more than 60 clinical trials, knows the regulatory standards pharmaceutical companies historically were required to meet before bringing a product to market. “People misunderstand that this is just another instance of Big Pharma corruption,” she told Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., chairman and chief litigation counsel for Children’s Health Defense, during an episode of “RFK Jr. The Defender Podcast.” “It’s much, much bigger than that.”
Latypova said we have government reports describing the covid-19 vaccines as a biological weapon. “I have a question to our government,” she said. “What is it that they’re exactly forcing on us?” The DOD is “fully in charge” of the covid-19 vaccine clinical trials and the vaccine’s manufacturing and distribution, and it owns the vaccine “until it is injected into a person,” she said.
Discerning media lies about ‘covid’ coming from raccoon dogs | added March 30
Watch on Rumble
Eric Coppolino discusses how world governments have admitted to not having an isolate of an alleged ‘covid’ virus and the importance of taking East Palestine train wreck seriously by evacuating the town.
Derailed Minnesota train hauling ethanol and corn syrup sparks ordered evacuation of nearby homes | added March 30
Read more at News 5 Cleveland
A train hauling ethanol and corn syrup derailed and caught fire in Minnesota early Thursday and nearby residents were ordered to evacuate their homes, authorities said. The BNSF train derailed in the town of Raymond, roughly 100 miles (161 kilometers) west of Minneapolis, about 1 a.m., according to a statement from Kandiyohi County Sheriff Eric Tollefson.
The Associated Press left messages seeking comment from BNSF officials and with Tollefson. The train “had numerous rail cars derail” and several caught fire, Tollefson said. Homes in an area 1/2 mile (0.8 kilometers) around the site were evacuated, according to Tollefson, and residents were taken to a shelter in nearby Prinsburg.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told CNN that about 14 cars were carrying hazardous materials, including ethanol. “We’ve been in touch with the governor,” Buttigieg said, and Environmental Protection Agency officials were en route to the site “given the hazardous material situation.”
East Palestine residents test positive for vinyl chloride exposure after train derailment | added March 30
Read more at WKBN
NEW WATERFORD, Ohio (WKBN) – Tuesday night in New Waterford, members of the community and surrounding area sat in on a town hall. The topic: the Norfolk Southern train derailment. According to organizers, the train company was originally supposed to be at the meeting but they were a no-show.
WKBN spoke to two women who say they have positive tests for vinyl chloride exposure. Shelby Walker, of East Palestine, says the Norfolk Southern tracks are practically in her backyard. “I am approximately 900 feet from the burn site,” she said. She has been staying off and on in a hotel since the derailment because she is afraid for her health. Walker showed us some of her toxicity test results.
“It came back as vinyl chloride,” she said. “It’s not in my blood, it’s been in my urine tests.” Walker says her entire family has been experiencing symptoms. Eleven people lived in her home prior to the derailment, including her grandchildren. “I’m now on an inhaler that I’ve never had to before. My voice gets raspy on and off. We get headaches,” Walker said.
Washington state ranks 14th in the nation for most train derailments | added March 30
Read more at Komo News
WASHINGTON — There’s a push for new railroad safety measures following recent derailments– including one near Anacortes earlier this month. Federal data recorded 35 train derailments in our state last year, ranking it 14th for most derailments nationwide from 2018 to 2022. In that time, reportable derailments in our state totaled $15,539,225, with zero deaths and one injury.
From the fireball in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 3, in which 38 cars derailed, and a chemical fire forced the evacuation of 2,000 people– to a BNSF derailment two weeks ago in Washington’s Skagit County and other recent incidents have prompted calls for safety changes to the rail industry.
“This easily could’ve been a different scenario given the materials that are transported in and out of these facilities,” said Samish Indian Nation Chairman Thomas Wooten last week in a KOMO interview after the derailment on the Swinomish Reservation near Anacortes.
‘Covid’ shots no longer mandatory for healthcare workers in France | added March 30
Read more at Yahoo News
PARIS, March 30 (Reuters) – France’s public health authority Haute Autorite de Sante (HAS)on Thursday eased its vaccination guidance for professionals in the health sector, saying the shot was no longer mandatory, but still strongly recommended, in light of recent epidemiological data.
“This recommendation to lift the obligation to vaccinate against Covid-19 does not in any way call into question its previous … recommendations which were made in different healthcare-related and epidemiological contexts”, the HAS said in a statement. The government usually follows the body’s recommendations.
France’s decision at the height of the pandemic to suspend the work contracts of doctors, nurses and other health workers who refused to take a covid-19 vaccination, was highly controversial. The government had argued the move was necessary to keep hospitals safe, while unions said it further reduced available workforce in France’s chronically under-staffed health sector.
Top Massachusetts court rules in favor of ‘covid’ vax mandate despite appellate judge’s order not to enforce experimental jab | added March 30
Read more at The Boston Herald
The state’s top court has ruled in favor of the city in the battle over its covid-19 mandate, throwing out the preliminary injunction against the Wu administration and clearing the way for future versions of such policies.
Supreme Judicial Court Associate Justice Elspeth Cypher wrote the opinion issued Thursday, throwing out an appellate judge’s order not to enforce the vaccine-mandate police from December 2021 — a policy under which no one’s ever …
AstraZeneca ‘covid’ jabs may have caused more serious heart injuries in women, according to analysis of Britain’s immunization and death records | added March 30
Read more at The New York Times
Young women who received at least one dose of the covid vaccine made by AstraZeneca might have been more likely to die of a heart problem in the 12 weeks after their vaccination, according to an analysis of immunization and death records in Britain released on Monday.
Those findings carry a big caveat: Britain withdrew AstraZeneca’s vaccine use for young people under 30 in April 2021, citing the risk of rare but dangerous blood clots. By that time, the young women who were immunized would have been mainly health care workers or those who were medically vulnerable, because people at high risk of covid from their age, health or employment were vaccinated first. So the results of the study may not apply to the general population.
“It could be that the people who are clinically extremely vulnerable are more susceptible to side effects from vaccination,” said Vahé Nafilyan, a senior statistician for Britain’s Office for National Statistics and one of the lead researchers on the study. The results were published on Monday in the journal Nature Communications.
House Democrats frustrated over Biden’s lift of the national ‘covid’ emergency declaration | added March 30
Read more at The Hill
House Democrats are sounding off against the White House after President Biden indicated he’ll sign legislation to lift the national emergency declaration surrounding covid-19 — a move that came less than two months after Democrats had opposed the same measure en masse at the administration’s request.
Almost 200 House Democrats had voted on Feb. 1 against the Republican proposal for an immediate repeal of the emergency designation, after the White House warned it “would create wide-ranging chaos and uncertainty throughout the health care system.” Administration officials said they needed a longer wind-down window, and would remove the designation unilaterally on May 11. It passed the House 229-197 with 11 Democrats voting in favor.
Yet Senate Democrats on Wednesday brought the same repeal proposal to the floor, where it passed easily by a vote of 68 to 23, and a White House official said Biden would sign it into law. The president’s shift in position caught House Democrats off guard, and a number of lawmakers — particularly frontliners, who are facing tough reelection contests next year — were quick to air their frustrations when they learned the news Wednesday evening.
“Truth alone will endure, all the rest will be swept always in the tide of Time.” — Ghandi.
Ohio businesses to benefit from toxic train derailment, according to attorney general | added March 30
Read more at WKBN
(WKBN) — The Ohio attorney general has been very adamant that Norfolk Southern will pay for every aspect of the East Palestine train derailment cleanup. Wednesday, he got the railroad to agree and go a step further.
Norfolk Southern is under an EPA order to clean up the accident site and around it. Ohio’s attorney general Dave Yost has gotten the railroad to agree to use Ohio companies for all aspects of the cleanup. Yost says Ohio didn’t ask for the train derailment, but since the work has to be done, it might as well benefit Ohioans.
“Since the accident did happen, I am excited that it is Ohio, his businesses, and businesses right here in the Valley that are going to benefit from the money that has to be spent on the cleanup and remediation from this act,” Yost said. The agreement does not impact the attorney general’s lawsuit against Norfolk Southern. He says that involves issues that are longer term and include environmental damages which won’t even be added up for a couple of years.
EPA to conduct internal investigation of Ohio train wreck response | added March 29
Read more at Off Guardian
The US Environmental Protection Agency’s internal watchdog division is opening an investigation into the handling of the East Palestine train wreck which caused a toxic disaster in the small Ohio town.
An agency spokesperson declined to comment on why it is launching the investigation, but a public memo from the EPA office of inspector general states that it will “conduct interviews, gather data, and analyze a variety of issues, including hazardous waste disposal, air and water monitoring, soil and sediment sampling, and risk communication”.
The agency’s response to the train crash has drawn intense criticism from the town’s residents and public health advocates who say it has failed to fully protect East Palestine from toxic chemicals released from train cars and a controlled burn of vinyl chloride in the days after the wreck. Critics say the Joe Biden administration has not been cautious enough in its approach, or taken strong enough action against Norfolk Southern, the rail company behind the disaster.
Baltimore-area wastewater treatment facility blocks contaminated water from East Palestine | added March 29
Read more at WKBN
(WKBN)- A Baltimore-area wastewater treatment facility will not treat contaminated water from East Palestine after pushback from local lawmakers. Clean Harbors announced yesterday they will not process any wastewater from the derailment site.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott denied the request over “grave concerns” after learning 675,000 gallons of water would be sent to the city for treatment, then released into the city’s sewer system.
Earlier this month, U.S. EPA Administrator Michael Regan sent letters to state officials, warning them not to try and stop the waste shipments. It’s not clear where the water will go now.
PA wants Norfolk Southern to reimburse farmers for lost meat sales after East Palestine train derailment | added March 29
Read more at Post Gazette
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania will work with Ohio to start testing tissue from animals that might have been affected by environmental fallout from last month’s Norfolk Southern train derailment, Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding told lawmakers Tuesday.
Mr. Redding’s remarks came during legislative hearings about the Pennsylvania state budget, during which Dr. Debra Bogen, the acting health secretary, said her agency is also exploring its role in monitoring the long-term health of residents following the catastrophe.
“The survey that we have been doing showed that people for sure had a lot of symptoms, particularly right after the train derailment,” Ms. Bogen said.
Their appearances before lawmakers came as federal officials continue their investigation of the derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, just west of the Pennsylvania border. It led to fires and a decision three days later — which authorities said was prompted by concerns that derailed cars carrying toxic chemicals might explode — to release vinyl chloride from several train cars and burn it.
Erin Brockovich and EP resident, Jamie Wallace: It’s not safe and there’s a cover-up | added March 29
Watch the video on YouTube
Next Monday marks the two-month anniversary of the toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, that devastated a small community. On Tuesday, Congress held a hearing on the environmental response to the derailment while residents in East Palestine held another town hall. Why are the people still getting sick? East Palestine resident Jamie Wallace was at the town hall meeting, which she called a “huge success.” Environmental activist Erin Brockovich, who has been advocating for East Palestine residents, argues that the response to the train derailment is tantamount to a “cover-up.”
House Subcommittee holds hearing on government response to East Palestine train wreck | added March 29
Watch the video on YouTube
A House subcommittee holds a hearing on the government response to the February train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. Witnesses include Columbiana County Health Commissioner Wesley Vins, Environmental Protection Agency Regional Administrator Debra Shore, and Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Director Anne Vogel.
NTSB’s Michael Hiller explains common reasons trains derail | added March 29
Watch the video on The Wall Street Journal
The train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, was just one of over 1,000 that happen every year. NTSB’s Michael Hiller explains the most common reasons trains come off the tracks and what can be done to prevent them.
Congressman Bill Johnson demands answers for the “still suffering” East Palestine residents | added March 29
Read more at WKBN
WASHINGTON, D.C. (WKBN) – Holding his first hearing as chairman of a House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on last month’s toxic train derailment, Valley Congressman Bill Johnson’s goal was simple.
He said he wanted to get answers for the “still-suffering” residents of East Palestine. Johnson called Columbiana County’s Health Commissioner, as well as state and federal environmental officials, to discuss the cleanup during a hearing in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday.
Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Director Anne Vogel used a map to show lawmakers the wreck happened a mile and a half from the village’s local wells. “The derailment would not have affected the municipal water source, and we knew that very quickly after the derailment,” Vogel said.
Canadian Pacific train derails in North Dakota with hazardous materials aboard | added March 29
Read more at AP News
WYNDMERE, N.D. (AP) — A Canadian Pacific train derailed in rural North Dakota Sunday night and spilled hazardous materials. But local authorities and the railroad said there is no threat to public safety.
There were no injuries and no fire associated with the derailment, which occurred in a rural area outside Wyndmere, a town of several hundred people about 60 miles (97 kilometers) southwest of Fargo. Canadian Pacific spokesperson Andy Cummings said 31 of the 70 cars on the train, including several carrying hazardous materials, left the tracks around 11:15 p.m. Sunday.
Four cars filled with liquid asphalt and two railcars filled with ethylene glycol spilled some of those chemicals in the derailment. And Cummings said a car carrying propylene was punctured and released some vapor. It wasn’t immediately clear how much of the chemicals were released, but there are no waterways nearby and the chemical spills were contained at the site of the derailment.
Philadelphia tap water remains safe through 3:30 pm Tuesday following chemical spill in tributary, according to officials | added March 29
Read more at NBC Philadelphia
Tap water in Philadelphia remains safe to drink and use through 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday following a chemical spill in a tributary to the Delaware River, officials announced during a press conference on Monday.
A latex product spilled along the Delaware River tributary near Bristol Township in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, late Friday, March 24, shortly before midnight. Officials believe about 8,100 gallons of a “water soluble acrylic polymer solution” poured into the tributary.
The company responsible for the chemical spill, Trinseo, said the latex emulsion product that spilled into the river was “approximately 50-percent water and the remainder latex polymer.”
According to the company, the latex emulsion is “a white liquid that is used in various consumer goods.” The company said the chemical has a pigmentation that “makes the water-soluble material visible in surface water.” The latex is non-toxic to humans, and no known adverse health effects have been reported in the county, according to officials.
WHO revises ‘covid’ jab recommendations for healthy kids and teenagers stating they may not need to get shot | added March 29
Read more at CNN
The World Health Organization’s vaccine experts have revised their global covid-19 vaccination recommendations, and healthy kids and teenagers considered low priority may not need to get a shot.
The updated roadmap is designed to prioritize covid-19 vaccines for those at greatest risk of death and severe disease, according to the World Health Organization’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE).
It is being issued to reflect the omicron stage of the pandemic and because of countries’ high population immunity levels due to vaccines and infection, the group announced following a recent meeting. The new streamlined recommendations focus on high-, medium- and low-risk groups. SAGE recommends additional booster doses of covid-19 vaccine for high-priority groups such as older people, immunocompromised people of all ages, front-line health workers and pregnant people six or 12 months after their last booster dose.
EPA guidance from 2022 expressly prohibits open detonation, dump and burn operations | added March 28
Read more at Planet Waves FM from Chiron Return
EPA violated its own rules when it allowed the dumping and burning of 125,000 gallons of vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) in East Palestine on Feb. 6, 2023. Public officials claim that doing this was preferable to risking an explosion — a potential scenario that itself has not been challenged thoroughly enough.
A June 7, 2022 guidance memo from EPA interpreting federal regulations and bans the open detonation/open burning of toxins.
Let me say this again. EPA violated its own rules and committed crimes when it authorized the dumping and open burning of 125,000 gallons of vinyl chloride monomer (VCM). My source is a former official in EPA’s enforcement division.
Public officials are so shameless that they have tried to pin responsibility for the dump and burn operation on the local fire chief. A proper recovery operation was initiated the night of the derailment, but was called off, according to a source close to the railroad industry.
Read the rules for yourself.
My source just followed up and wrote to me:
“I read the June 7, 2022 policy directive in more detail and am even more convinced that it is the key to demonstrating that the East Palestine disaster was an egregious environmental crime. I’m surprised that it was still on the EPA website a month ago when I discovered it. I wouldn’t be surprised if it disappears as soon as they realize that the public knows of its existence. It really is damning evidence.”
Chronology of Feb. 3, 2023 derailment of train 32N in E. Palestine, OH | added March 28
Read more at Planet Waves FM
Problems with the standard East Palestine narrative — something is missing…
— There has never been a dump and burn in railroad history, even in the decade prior to its being banned by 1980 regulations. There is always dump and remove, or decant (into tankers) and remove. These incidents happen every two weeks — the burn part is totally unprecedented and there is rarely a need to dump…
— Fully enclosed hazmat tanker truck driver recovery operation (entirely routine procedure when there are damaged tanker cars) was initiated Friday Feb. 3, and then called off within 24 hours (on Friday night or Saturday). Who called it off? I have this from two reliable sources
— Fire lines pulled from keeping tankers cool
— No samples of soot or wipe samples from inside the tanker cars — missing crucial data that would reveal the true nature of the incident
— Point source soot samples are also missing
— Decision to breach, dump and burn was totally irrational and nobody understands it. EPA was involved.
— No state or federal emergencies declared, depriving governments of emergency powers and agencies of certain kinds of authority (we now from “covid” how much power a state of emergency grants; in this case, that was never done).
Something is very wrong with East Palestine, Ohio train derailment narrative | added March 28
Read more at Celia Farber
Problems with the standard East Palestine narrative — something is missing…
I’ve been staring at East Palestine for six weeks, and there appear to be elements of the fact pattern that do not add up to the claim of the standard narrative. This is what I know, based on our investigation for the chronology we are developing. You can read that here. There are actually two — one is a list of lawsuits.
The question I am seeking to answer is, re dump and burn, why was this decision made? Here are my story notes-in-progress, which I would summarize as, “Good morning, it’s Opposite Day.”
— There has never been a dump and burn in railroad history, even in the decade prior to its being banned by 1980 regulations. There is always dump and remove, or decant (into tankers) and remove. Spills happen every two weeks — the burn part is unprecedented and there is rarely a need to dump. The typical approach is to take the contaminated dirt to a hazardous waste landfill.
— A 2022 EPA guidance, which says how to interpret laws and regs, repeats the ban on dump and burn except only after careful consideration when there is absolutely no other alternative (which has never happened in civilian society; it happens in the military).
Why our trains are toxic: The dioxin backstory | added Mar. 28
Read more at Science and Environmental Health Network
In recent days, dozens of news reports have described the February 3, 2023 train derailment that devastated East Palestine, Ohio, near the Pennsylvania border. Many reports have asked, “Why doesn’t our government require railroads to install the best available safety equipment?”
A better question might be, “Why is any train allowed to criss-cross farms, towns, suburbs and cities carrying a cargo so toxic that a derailment requires everyone for miles around to evacuate their homes and businesses, then to worry forevermore whether they, their families, and their unborn children and grandchildren may have been permanently poisoned?”
Since 2015 in the United States, 106 train derailments have released hazardous chemicals, about one each month for the last eight years.
Passing through East Palestine February 3, the locomotive was pulling 150 rail cars, 38 of which suddenly thundered off the tracks, including five that carried a total of 116,000 gallons of vinyl chloride. Vinyl chloride, a poison known to cause cancer in humans, is the raw material for plastics that now contaminate the ocean, the air, the food supply, and human babies.
When the enormous heap of train wreckage caught fire, railroad officials feared the five vinyl chloride tank-cars might explode, so they dumped all the vinyl chloride into a ditch and set it afire, producing the gigantic cloud of toxic smoke pictured above. With that, things went from bad to worse.
NTSB states pressure relief devices show no sign of debris or material migration into tank | added March 28
Read more at NTSB
[Mar. 21, 2023] On March 15 and 16, 2023, the National Transportation Safety Board investigators performed a detailed examination and functional testing of the pressure relief devices (PRDs) removed from the five vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) tank cars that derailed on Feb. 3 in East Palestine, Ohio at a testing facility. The examination and testing revealed the following:Melted aluminum debris from the protective housing covers entered the PRD discharge areas of some PRDs but there was no evidence of debris or material migration into the tank or internal PRD components. The NTSB continues to assess if the melted aluminum debris within the discharge area of the PRDs had any effect on their venting and discharge operation (see Figure 1).
NTSB testing found anomalies with the function of some PRDs that will require further testing and evaluation. The valve stems of some examined PRDs were seized in the top guide bushings, in one case preventing the PRD from operating, even above its rated pressure (see Figure 2). Also, according to the manufacturer’s part specifications, one of the installed PRD’s internal springs was coated with aluminum, which is not compatible with the VCM lading.
Hearing held Friday in federal court to determine procedure of class action lawsuits filed in wake of toxic train derailment | added March 28
Read more at WKBN
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — A hearing will be held Friday in federal court to determine how class action lawsuits filed in the wake of the East Palestine train derailment case should proceed.
U.S. Judge Benita Y. Pearson issued an order Friday in the U.S. Northern District Court of Ohio for a hearing on how to appoint an interim attorney to oversee the class action lawsuits, to devise a plan on how the cases should be structured and a status report on the current cases. As of Friday, 29 lawsuits have been filed over the Feb. 3 derailment of a Norfolk Southern train in East Palestine, which spilled some of the chemicals the cars were carrying.
A few days after the train derailed, the chemicals, which were still in the rail cars, were burned off rather than removed to prevent an explosion. Pictures of the resulting plume of smoke, which caused an inversion of clouds, have been broadcast across the country. Those who have filed suit have almost universally said in their complaints that the derailment has released toxic chemicals in the air and water that will have an adverse effect on their health, residences and businesses.
EPA to testify in D.C. over train derailment | added Mar. 28
Read more at NBC 4
WASHINGTON, D.C. (WKBN) – The U.S. EPA and Ohio EPA will testify Tuesday in Washington, D.C. over the East Palestine train derailment. The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment, Manufacturing and Critical Materials will meet to discuss the train derailment.
Columbiana County Health Commissioner Wesley Vins, as well as officials from the U.S. EPA and Ohio EPA will testify. The hearing starts at 10 a.m. in Washington D.C.
Boardman firefighters ask for reimbursement for equipment ruined by train derailment | added March 28
Read more at WFMJ
Boardman firefighters are asking to be reimbursed for equipment that was ruined while responding to the train derailment in East Palestine. Boardman fire officials are asking for $30,000 to replace personal protective equipment, such as boots, coats and hats that were contaminated during the derailment and are no longer usable.
The fire department met with township trustees to approve an invoice for what the department needs to replace. That invoice will then be sent to Norfolk Southern.
“It’s in the Ohio Revised Code that you can seek reimbursement for a hazardous material incident. Each municipality can apply for that and you can bill for your apparatus or any lost equipment,” Boardman Fire Chief Mark Pitzer said.
The township plans to submit its request to the City Administrator of East Palestine, who will then get reimbursed from Norfolk Southern.
Carbon water filters to be installed in East Palestine municipal water supply | added March 28
Read more at WKBN
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio (WKBN) — Monday night in East Palestine, village council laid out steps it’s taking to keep the municipal drinking water supply safe. While officials say the water is perfectly fine now, they are taking precautions to make sure it stays that way with the implementation of a filter system.
Village council members updated residents about the progress of cleanup following the Norfolk Southern train derailment on Feb. 3. East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway says soil removal around the tracks is ongoing.
In an update on Monday, Gov. Mike DeWine said test results show 50 feet of sampled soil on the south rail line have not met clean standards. More soil will be removed from the area to be tested again. Once the soil meets safety standards, rebuilding of the track will begin.
The south track is expected to be completed next month, but there’s no word on when soil removal will start on the north track.
Conaway anticipates the removal process will last several more months.
Norfolk Southern’s money trail leads to local East Palestine, Ohio politicians | added March 28
Read more at WKBN
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – Norfolk Southern’s impact on politics is profound. It’s no secret that heavy-duty campaign and PAC contributions total into the multi-million dollar range for the railroad.
Norfolk Southern’s corporate political contribution and lobbying expense for 2021 totaled approximately $4.3 million, according to the company’s disclosure documents. Some local politicians who have spoken out against Norfolk after the train derailment took money from the company for their campaigns.
WKBN received questions from viewers and dug into the financial records. For instance, on Jan. 4, 2023, one month before the East Palestine train derailment, the Mike DeWine and Jon Husted Transition Fund received $10,000 from Norfolk, according to campaign finance records from the Ohio Secretary of State. The DeWine Husted for Ohio campaign also received $5,000 from Norfolk in 2022 as well as $1,000 in 2020 and $5,000 in 2019.
East Palestine resident: I live near the train derailment and it’s not safe | added March 28
Read more at Off Guardian
On the evening of 3 February I was at home in East Palestine, Ohio, watching a movie with my granddaughters, when my daughter Adyson called and asked, “Dad, what’s going on downtown?” I looked out the window and there was an orange glow in the sky. I turned the movie down to talk to my daughter but she’d hung up. Ten minutes later she called back and said, “We’re coming to get you.”
We went to try to figure out what had happened and it was like driving into a cloud – smoke was billowing overhead. A Norfolk Southern freight train had derailed. You could see the flames over the tops of nearby houses and feel the heat from several hundred feet away. Huge clouds of smoke were spreading from the crash site over our town.
We initially thought that a coal train had caught fire. We learned later that 38 cars of industrial supplies, including at least 11 cars of toxic chemicals, had derailed. Another 12 cars were damaged by fire. The train’s spilled cargo included vinyl chloride, a chemical that causes liver cancer. People in the immediate area of the derailment were ordered to evacuate, in case of an explosion. The rest of us were told to shelter in place.
Emergency legislation proposed to stop wastewater headed to Maryland after Ohio train derailment | added March 27
Read more at WBAL TV11
Wastewater collected from the Ohio train derailment site could be headed to Maryland for treatment, Baltimore City and Baltimore County officials announced Friday afternoon.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said the city received a letter late Thursday from contractor Clean Harbors Environmental and Industrial Services, stating that the company is one of many sites across the country selected to accept, treat and discharge the wastewater collected from rainwater at the derailment site. The wastewater would be treated at the city-run Back River Waste Water Treatment Plant in Dundalk.
Clean Harbors wrote in its letter: “Clean Harbors proposes to begin receiving this wastewater immediately once approval is granted. The initial known quantity currently loaded in rail cars is 675,000 gallons.” This comes more than a month after a fiery train derailment on the Ohio-Pennsylvania border.
Norfolk Southern pushes away from one-person train crew agenda to focus on employees’ quality of life | added March 27
Read more at ABC News
Railroad Norfolk Southern is backing away from its push to reduce its train crews down to one person, the company said Thursday in a joint announcement with the nation’s largest rail union.
The two sides said they will instead focus on quality of life issues for employees, such as scheduling and days off, during their ongoing contract talks. Railroad safety, including staffing levels, has come under scrutiny since a fiery freight train derailment involving cars carrying toxic chemicals in early February led to evacuations in East Palestine, Ohio.
No one was immediately injured in the Feb. 3 derailment, but state and local officials decided to release and burn toxic vinyl chloride from five tanker cars, prompting the evacuation of half of the roughly 5,000 residents. Billowing smoke above the village and reports from residents that they still suffer from illnesses, turned high-level attention to railroad safety and how dangerous materials are transported.
NBA great Eric Montross has cancer; NFL tight end Foster Moreau has Hodgkin’s Lymphoma; pro wrestler Black Bart has liver cancer; reality TV’s Patrick Macon has gallbladder or bile duct cancer | added March 27
Read more at Mark Crispin Miller
The family of former North Carolina and NBA big man Eric Montross says he has begun treatments for cancer. Montross’ family issued a statement through the school on Saturday announcing the 51-year-old’s diagnosis, though it didn’t specify the nature of the cancer. “We are all touched by the responses our entire family has received since the news became public,” the family said. “Your support is more than appreciated; it is welcomed as a necessary part of beating cancer one day at a time. Our family is dealing with Eric’s diagnosis head-on — the only way we know how. And we are all in this fight together.”
Montross is a radio analyst for UNC game broadcasts and works for the Rams Club, the fundraising arm of UNC’s athletics department. Montross was a two-time Associated Press second-team All-American with the Tar Heels. He was the starting center on the late Dean Smith’s second NCAA championship squad in 1993. Montross went on to be the No. 9 overall pick in the 1994 NBA draft and played eight years in the league.
During a routine physical with the Saints this month, [Foster] Moreau learned that he has Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. As a result, he will put his football career on hold. “Through somewhat of a miraculous process, this Free Agency period has been life changing for me,” Moreau tweeted. “During a routine physical conducted by the Saint’s medical team down in New Orleans, I’ve come to learn that I have Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, and will be stepping away from football at this time to fight a new opponent: Cancer.
Debunking the germ theory funk | added March 27
Read more at Mike Stone Antiviral Substack
I’ve been asked numerous times to participate in debates on the validity of virology and germ theory over the course of the past few years. I have taken part in many conversations over that time on Facebook and other platforms, attempting to have honest discussions with people claiming to be virologists, biologists, scientists, doctors and educators.
However, one thing became very clear during these exchanges that really soured me on this entire experience. It is very difficult to have an honest conversation with people who are emotionally invested and attached to their education, training, and their chosen professions. Admittedly, these people have put in a lot of money, time, and effort into learning their particular field.
Thus, they do not take too kindly to those who challenge them on their long-held beliefs. I can understand this mindset as it is very difficult to even entertain that what one has spent a great deal of time on could actually be fraudulent. I am well aware that myself and others who expose the flaws of germ theory and virology are a threat to these people, not only to their careers, but also to their egos.
Fifth Ward residents push state’s environmental agency to conduct further dioxin testing after traces found in 47 soil samples | added March 27
Read more at Houston Public Media
[Sept. 29, 2022] Fifth Ward residents on Thursday continued to push the state’s environmental agency to conduct further testing after a toxic chemical was found in nearly 50 soil samples collected near the Union Pacific railyard.The Houston Health Department announced last week that they had found traces of dioxin — a highly toxic chemical compound — in 47 soil samples collected around the Fifth Ward area. During a press conference in Kashmere Gardens, residents were joined by Jacqueline Metcalf, the executive director of the nonprofit Texas Health and Environmental Alliance, who demanded the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to “take a holistic approach to healing the health of these communities” by conducting robust health studies to accurately examine how the neighborhood has been effected by cancer-causing chemicals.
“Adults, children, and animals have lived and played on top of yards with this chemical in the soil,” she said. “These communities have been overburdened, overlooked and shortchanged for far too long.” Metcalf added that the TCEQ’s studies have “narrowly focused on a handful of adult cancers.” Additionally, Metcalf said that the agency has only looked into seven types of birth defects — as opposed to 49 in total. “Dioxin is known to cause birth defects,” she said. “We must use all of our voices to stand up and ask the state to study the birth defect registry in its entirety.”
VA links veterans’ diseases to exposure to Agent Orange and other herbicides during military service | added March 27
Read more at U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
VA assumes that certain diseases can be related to a Veteran’s qualifying military service. We call these “presumptive diseases.” VA has recognized certain cancers and other health problems as presumptive diseases associated with exposure to Agent Orange or other herbicides during military service. Veterans and their survivors may be eligible for benefits for these diseases.
- AL Amyloidosis
A rare disease caused when an abnormal protein, amyloid, enters tissues or organs - Bladder Cancer
A type of cancer that affects the bladder where urine is stored before it leaves the body - Chronic B-cell Leukemias
A type of cancer which affects white blood cells - Chloracne (or similar acneform disease)
A skin condition that occurs soon after exposure to chemicals and looks like common forms of acne seen in teenagers. Under VA’s rating regulations, it must be at least 10 percent disabling within one year of exposure to herbicides. - Diabetes Mellitus Type 2
Risk of death from ‘covid’ shots and cardiac diseases in young people | added March 27
Read more at Nature
Several studies have reported associations between covid-19 vaccination and risk of cardiac diseases, especially in young people; the impact on mortality, however, remains unclear.
We use national, linked electronic health data in England to assess the impact of covid-19 vaccination and positive SARS-CoV-2 tests on the risk of cardiac and all-cause mortality in young people (12 to 29 years) using a self-controlled case series design. Here, we show there is no significant increase in cardiac or all-cause mortality in the 12 weeks following covid-19 vaccination compared to more than 12 weeks after any dose. However, we find an increase in cardiac death in women after a first dose of non mRNA vaccines.
A positive SARS-CoV-2 test is associated with increased cardiac and all-cause mortality among people vaccinated or unvaccinated at time of testing. On the 8 December 2020, the United Kingdom (UK) began administering vaccines against covid-19 according to the priority groups determined by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).
Notre Dame third-year tight end medically retires due to heart condition | added March 27
Read more at Yahoo Sports
With spring practice beginning today for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, there is always updates on players and their futures. For junior Will Schweitzer, today was always going to be difficult. In a post made to Twitter, the third-year tight end from California has medically retired from football due to a congenital heart condition.
He will continue to be a part of the Irish football family and stay enrolled in school to finish out his degree. It is unfortunate that Schweitzer and his family had to go through this, but on the bright side, he has made a full recovery and his future prognosis looks very promising. As a prospect, Schweitzer was rated as the 592nd overall prospect and the 64th best linebacker in the country according to the 247Sports composite. We wish Will nothing but the best in his future endeavors.
The fallout of mandated experimental ‘covid’ drug shots on military service members | added March 27
Read more at Military Times
The new year brought a major victory for thousands of service members who refused the covid-19 vaccines – and the conservative lawmakers and pundits who backed them. The Pentagon was forced to repeal its coronavirus mandate by a largely-GOP-backed requirement added to the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in December. But many troops who balked at taking the shots still face uncertain futures.
The controversy shows how healthcare became a political football, with both the far right and some on the left objecting to mandated covid vaccinations, mask-wearing, and other government public health responses. It also revealed how covid disinformation spread and caught fire, stoking deepening mistrust of government among wide segments of American society.
More than 17,000 service members balked at taking the shots, citing safety fears linked to the vaccine’s speedy development and spurred by misinformation about messenger ribonucleic acid technology, as well as concern over fetal cell lines used in formulation and testing. The more the controversy raged in the news, the more troops asked to skip the shots, Military Times reporting found.
Perhaps it’s better to not have all your eggs in one basket…
EPA claims preliminary soil test results from Pennsylvania farms show no signs of contamination | added March 26
Read more at Farm and Dairy
DARLINGTON, Pa. — Preliminary soil test results from farms in Pennsylvania show no signs of contamination from the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern train derailment, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and U.S. EPA. Volatile organic compounds and semi-volatile organic compounds were not detected in the samples, taken from 15 farms in Beaver and Lawrence counties that were impacted by smoke from the chemical burnoff following the derailment in nearby East Palestine, Ohio.
Levels of dioxins came back within expected background levels for a rural area. Dioxin is carcinogenic chemical compound that is a byproduct of combustion and found throughout the environment. Final results and analysis are expected back in the coming weeks. “The EPA and DEP presenters felt these were good indications our soils are clean,” said Cliff Wallace, president of the Beaver-Lawrence Farm Bureau. Representatives from the DEP, Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency met with farmers March 22 to discuss the preliminary results and other concerns.
The test results are good news for farmers in the region, some of whom have lost business due to the stigma of existing near the derailment. Some farms were enveloped by the plume of smoke that spread throughout the area Feb. 6 after five derailed tank cars of the hazardous chemical vinyl chloride were vented and burned off in an effort to prevent an uncontrolled explosion.
Pennsylvania school district sues Norfolk Southern for negligence over toxic train derailment | added March 26
Read more at CNN
A Pennsylvania school district is suing Norfolk Southern for negligence stemming from last month’s train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, and the subsequent “controlled” release of toxic chemicals at the derailment site, according to a complaint filed Thursday.
The Blackhawk School District in Beaver County is alleging “the toxic fires and deadly plumes dumped a lethal cocktail on (their) buildings, property, soil, and water supplies where deposits of the toxic materials have been found,” the complaint states. The school district is just over the state border and within a 15-mile radius of East Palestine.
Blackhawk School District is demanding a trial by jury and compensation for its students and staff for injuries and damages causing medical problems, the risk for future diseases, and the need for future monitoring of its properties, the complaint continued. Norfolk Southern declined to comment, citing pending litigation. The February 3 incident resulted in the derailment of 10 cars carrying hazardous materials. Five of the train cars were carrying vinyl chloride, a potentially explosive chemical. An evacuation zone was established and a controlled release of the chemical followed three days later.
Hours of video footage deleted from hazardous train derailment in East Palestine, according to officials | added March 26
Read more at Huffington Post
Hours’ worth of video footage was deleted from the Norfolk Southern train that derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, according to officials investigating the accident. The footage, which could provide crucial information about the cause of the 50-car derailment that led to a dangerous chemical spill in February, was automatically deleted after the train was put back in service immediately following the incident.
Jennifer Homendy, the chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, testified before a congressional committee Wednesday to explain the federal agency’s findings. “In the East Palestine accident, the locomotive was equipped with an inward- and forward-facing recorder,” Homendy said. “However, since NS [Norfolk Southern] put the locomotive immediately back in service following the accident, data was overwritten and only provide about 15 minutes of data before and 5 minutes following the derailment.”
That means hours of recordings were wiped out, leaving just those 20 minutes of video evidence around the derailment. Homendy told ABC 6 that it’s vital for investigators to know what happened prior to the accident. “It’s just as important to see what was going on before that,” Homendy told the local outlet. “The train was going in the 35-40 mph range earlier and then between 40-50. So we don’t even have what was occurring around the first and second wayside (defect) detectors, much less before that, all of which is key to investigations,” she added, referring to devices along railroad tracks that can identify problems with trains.
Cumulative Impact Assessment: Research and Regulatory Activities at EPA | added March 26
Watch the video on YouTube
During this webinar, the assistant administrator for research and development moderated a panel of representatives from several EPA offices working to incorporate cumulative impacts into research, policy, law, and decision making. Each panel member gave brief remarks followed a questions and answers session with attendees. The moderator was Chris Frey. Panelists included Sarah Mazur, Charles Lee, Ann Wolverton, Alan Walts, and Helen Serassio.
“They told us all it was safe and to go home”: Tamaroa residents see similarities between East Palestine, 2003 train derailment | added March 26
Read more at KSDK
TAMAROA, Ill. — For more than a century trains have run through the heart of Tamaroa, Illinois. “We never notice the trains at all,” said Beth Cassity. On Feb. 9, 2003, that changed for Beth Cassity and roughly 1,000 people in the tiny Perry County town. “We got a call from my sister-in-law saying there had been a train derailment,” said Beth Cassity.
“I could hear the noise when I was in here getting ready for church, and I didn’t think nothing of it,” said Brian Cassity. Initially, the derailed train became a site-seeing attraction for those who lived near the tracks. “There was smoke coming out of it and there was fire,” said Brian Cassity. “You could hear the reef valves going off on the tankers.”
“They told us all it was safe to go home, and we did,” said Beth Cassity. “When we came home there were people uptown in hazmat suits.” “We had to evacuate,” said Brian Cassity. “We had 15 minutes to get out of town.” “When you go on vacation it’s because you want to be,” said Jeff Brocaille. “When someone tells you to be gone because you have to be gone it’s different.”
Peaceful protest in support of East Palestine residents says they don’t want to be forgotten | added March 26
Read more at WKBN
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio (WKBN) — There was a Peaceful Protest in support of the residents of East Palestine on Saturday. Over two dozen residents met on Main Street to voice their ongoing concerns about the train derailment. Protestors held up signs about holding Norfolk Southern, EPA and Gov. Mike Dewine accountable.
The community says they don’t want to be forgotten.
“We want to keep this in the forefront of the news because they still don’t have independent testing and I believe that’s what we need,” said Marilyn Figley, an East Palestine resident.
Young kids joined in the protest, too.
Baltimore set to receive 675,000 gallons of wastewater from toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio | added March 26
Read more at WMAR Baltimore
BALTIMORE — Baltimore is set to receive 675,000 gallons of wastewater from the aftermath of last month’s train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. The federal Environmental Protection Agency selected Baltimore City’s Back River Wastewater Treatment Plant to treat and discharge the potentially toxic materials.
According to a letter sent to the City, the water may contain vinyl chloride which can be dangerous when released into the environment. Back River will be tasked with treating and filtering the wastewater using carbon adsorption. A recent explosion at the plant would not impact those efforts. Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott and Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski on Friday did express major concern about the operation.
“The County Executive and I have grave concerns about the waste from this derailment coming into our facilities and being discharged into our system,” said Scott. “As such, we will exercise additional caution due diligence and ask for additional testing, before authorizing the discharge of any treated water from this event to the public wastewater collection system.”
East Palestine Activism Therapy Session | added March 24
Read more at Planet Waves FM from Chiron Return
A New Conversation with Zsuzsa Gyenes
Greetings Friends Far and Near,
Planet Waves FM is off this week, though recent editions have been excellent. I may take another week off from the full program, as this run-up to the sign changes and all this journalism have been a bit intense.
Today I do have for you a new conversation with our East Palestine correspondent, Zsyzsa Gyenes, wherein we talk about what’s happening in town, the EPA’s strategy of attrition, and different classical approaches to activism.
I reference the “power analysis” chart from the Midwest Academy and provided that and also a similar “power mapping” chart. Anyone with questions or thoughts about these charts, please put them into the comments. They are the distillation of many years of experience.
At the bottom is a mini-documentary about East Palestine. Thanks for tuning in. As ever, it’s good to be with you.
Plan to test for dioxins near train derailment in East Palestine is flawed, according to researchers | added March 24
Read more at Off Guardian
A plan to test for toxic dioxins near the site of a February train wreck in East Palestine, Ohio, is flawed and unlikely to find the dangerous substances, independent chemical pollution researchers in the US who reviewed the testing protocol told the Guardian. Initial soil testing already revealed dioxin levels hundreds of times above the threshold that Environmental Protection Agency scientists have found poses a cancer risk, but that sampling was limited in scope.
Regulators have said further testing being conducted by the Norfolk Southern-funded contractor Arcadis US will provide a broader picture than the initial samples. But, among other problems, the plan relies on what experts characterized as an “unconventional” process to check for dioxins, and the results are “unlikely to give a complete picture”, of contamination in East Palestine, said Stephen Lester, a toxicologist with the Center for Health, Environment and Justice.
“It is very limited and I don’t think it’s going to answer the questions people in East Palestine have about dioxin exposure and the risk they have from dioxin exposure,” Lester added. Arcadis noted its plan was developed “in consultation with” the EPA, but, among other concerns, dioxin researchers who reviewed the plan noted:
Arcadis will largely rely on visual inspections of the ground to find evidence of dioxins, instead of systematically testing soil samples that may contain the compounds, which is standard protocol. The plan does not say how low the levels of dioxin the company will check for will be.
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro to maintain long-term residential assistance in Darlington Township | added Mar. 24
Read more at WFMJ
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro announced plans for his administration to maintain a long-term, physical presence in Darlington Township, Beaver County to continue assisting residents impacted by the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine.
Starting on Thursday, March 23, staff from the Pennsylvania Departments of Agriculture, Environmental Protection and Health will be onsite at the Darlington Township Building, 3590 Darlington Rd., Darlington, PA 16115 every Thursday from Noon to 5:00 p.m. to meet with residents. Additional staff will be available through video conferencing during that time, as well. In addition, state agencies are working with Township staff to ensure they can help residents access state resources related to the derailment.
Staff from Commonwealth agencies and Beaver County also plan to hold open house events Thursday evenings from 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. to offer one-on-one discussion to individuals who attend, as well as provide resources and information. Residents will continue to have access to expert staff and be able to ask questions about their health, pets, farm animals, and inquire about air, soil, and water quality testing. Resource materials will also be available for pickup, including on days when agency staff are not on site.
NTSB official tells hearing train derailment video comes up short | added March 24
Read more at The Vindicator
The locomotive on the Norfolk Southern train that had a mass derailment in East Palestine was “put immediately back into service,” and all but 20 minutes of video from it right before and after the accident is gone, the National Transportation Safety Board chairwoman testified at a Senate committee hearing in Washington.
NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said Norfolk Southern video on the derailed train, which had an inward facing camera, “was overwritten. That means the data only provided about 15 minutes of video before the derailment and five minutes after the derailment.” She testified during Wednesday’s hearing by the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.
The NTSB is investigating the East Palestine derailment that occurred Feb. 3 after a wheel bearing overheated. Homendy called for changing the video policy to be in line with requirements for Amtrak and commuter railroads, which are required to maintain 12 hours of nonstop video, because it is vital to investigations. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas and ranking Republican on the committee, said he was shocked when he heard what Homendy said.
“Any time there is a locomotive involved in a serious derailment, it is lunacy that video is not preserved and that locomotive is put into alternative service,” he said. “I’m confident we can get unanimity from this committee on that.” Asked about the minimal video from the derailment, Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw said his company “followed protocols.”
Vinyl chloride disregulates metabolic homeostasis and enhances diet-induced liver injury in mice | added March 24
Read more at Pittsburgh Liver Research Center
[March 2, 2018] Dr. Juliane Beier recently published a manuscript in Hepatology Communications that was the focus of the March 1st editorial.Anna L. Lang, Liya Chen, Gavin D. Poff, Wen-Xing Ding, Russel A. Barnett, Gavin E. Arteel, Juliane I. Beier. “Vinyl chloride dysregulates metabolic homeostasis and enhances diet-induced liver injury in mice.” Hepatology Communications 2018;2:270-284.
ABSTRACT: Vinyl chloride (VC), a common industrial organochlorine and environmental pollutant, has been shown to directly cause hepatic angiosarcoma and toxicant-associated steatohepatitis at high exposure levels. However, the impact of lower concentrations of VC on the progression of underlying liver diseases (e.g., nonalcoholic fatty liver disease [NAFLD]) is unclear. Given the high prevalence of NAFLD in the United States (and worldwide) population, this is an important concern. Recent studies by our group with VC metabolites suggest a potential interaction between VC exposure and underlying liver disease to cause enhanced damage. Here, a novel mouse model determined the effects of VC inhalation at levels below the current Occupational Safety and Health Administration limit (<1 ppm) in the context of NAFLD to better mimic human exposure and identify potential mechanisms of VC-induced liver injury.
Firefighters didn’t have training and equipment for East Palestine hazardous train derailment | added March 24
Read more at CNN
Many of the first responders who helped fight the fire that erupted after the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, last month were ill-equipped and untrained to fight the massive chemical blaze that some now call “the hell fire.” In testimony Wednesday before the US Senate’s Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, lawmakers heard about myriad issues that snarled the response and that put firefighters who rushed to the scene at greater immediate risk – and may raise risks to their health throughout their lives.
About 300 firefighters from 50 departments dashed to the scene of the derailment in East Palestine on the night of February 3. Many of them were volunteers without hazmat training or specialized equipment. Officials investigating the derailment testified that these first responders weren’t able to access information about the chemicals that were in 11 overturned cars carrying hazardous materials.
Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, the agency investigating the crash, urged senators to consider meaningful changes to help inform exposed communities and first responders. “People deserve to know what chemicals are moving through their communities and how to stay safe in an emergency, That includes responders who risk their lives for each of us every single day. They deserve to be prepared,” Homendy said.
Senator Sherrod Brown at East Palestine town hall, “People want their community back, they want to see Norfolk Southern take care of what it’s promised” | added March 24
Read more at Spectrum News 1
[Feb. 27, 2023] EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — Sen. Sherrod Brown visited East Palestine Monday and met with residents and business owners. “To say it’s a new experience, I mean, it definitely is,” said 1820 Candle Company co-owner Melissa Smith. Her shop stands right in the middle of East Palestine, a place she said she’s spent more time cleaning lately than anything else. “We had to do all the cleaning and the duct work cleaning and the air quality and the water testing,” said Smith.Business owners, like Smith, got the chance to attend a meeting with Brown. “ One of things that’s really struck me is how resilient this community is,” said Brown. He expressed that community leaders remain frustrated, something he said is making him determined to get them answers.
“People want their community back, they want to see Norfolk Southern take care of what it’s promised,” said Brown.The removal of toxic waste from the town is just the first step toward a return to normal. Brown said he remains committed to making sure Norfolk Southern meets all of its obligations to this community. “The first round of resources is that everybody keep their receipts, whether they’re testing their well or their hotel rooms or the clean up that everyone keeps the receipts. And I will make sure that that that Norfolk Southern is accountable,” Brown said.
‘Covid’ death rates varied dramatically across the U.S., shows major new analysis | added March 24
Read more at ABC News
Death rates from covid-19 varied dramatically across the United States, a major new analysis finds. The report, published Thursday in medical journal The Lancet, looked at the rate of deaths throughout the country between January 2020 and July 2022.
Covid death rates in states like Arizona and New Mexico were roughly four times higher than in states like Hawaii, New Hampshire and Maine, researchers found. The highest covid-19 death rates were seen in Arizona with 581 deaths per 100,000 and Washington D.C. with 526 deaths per 100,000. By comparison, the lowest rates of death were seen in Hawaii with 147 deaths per 100,000, New Hampshire with 215 deaths per 100,000 and Maine with 218 deaths per 100,000.
The authors of the study noted that Arizona’s high death rate from covid-19 deaths may be due to “inequality, some poverty…ultimately [low] vaccination rates and behaviors didn’t line up to have good outcomes.” States that did well, like Hawaii, New Hampshire and Washington state, are states — in most cases — “[that] have done a good job restricting travel, and in some cases have less poverty, less inequality, and relatively high vaccination rates.”
Immune suppression blamed on getting sick with ‘covid’ before inoculation | added March 24
Read more at The New York Post
People who contracted covid-19 before they got vaccinated appear to have damaged a key part of their immune-cell response, Stanford University researchers have found. The study, published last week in the journal Immunity, reported a “major reduction” in the body’s quantity and quality of CD8+ T cells — known as “killer T cells” for their ability to kill infected cells — in people who had survived a bout with covid-19.
“You have damage that, even in recovery from the infection, you haven’t really recovered your ability to make those CD8+ cells. So something happened in the course of infection to prevent that, to damage your response,” Stanford professor Mark Davis, head of the university’s Institute for Immunity, Transplantation and Infection, told CBS News.
Researchers analyzed how CD8+ T cells and CD4+ T cells, known as “helper T cells,” respond to covid-19 infection and vaccination by studying blood samples from three groups of volunteers. The first group had never been infected with covid-19 and received two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. The second group had previously been infected with the virus and also received two vaccine doses. The third group had covid-19 and was unvaccinated.
Lucky neighbor | added March 24
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We come from different walks of life, but be nice to your neighbors.
East Palestine soil loaded with dioxins | added March 23
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“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”.
East of East Palestine with locals, scientists and concerned residents | added March 23
Watch on YouTube
Interviews with East Palestine residents and business owners report transparency and health concerns in wake of toxic train derailment.
Pfizer’s former chief scientist Mike Yeadon: Why I don’t believe there ever was a ‘covid’ virus | added March 23
Read more at Planet Waves FM from Chiron Return
‘Lab leak’ or ‘natural origin’ claim the same thing — there was a virus. This conceals the ongoing debate over whether that’s really true. An internationally-respected research scientist explains the problem.
By Dr. Mike Yeadon
I’VE GROWN INCREASINGLY FRUSTRATED about the way debate is controlled around the topic of origins of the alleged novel virus, SARS-CoV-2, and I have come to disbelieve it’s ever been in circulation, causing massive scale illness and death. Concerningly, almost no one will entertain this possibility, despite the fact that molecular biology is the easiest discipline in which to cheat.
That’s because you really cannot do it without computers, and sequencing requires complex algorithms and, importantly, assumptions. Tweaking algorithms and assumptions, you can hugely alter the conclusions.
This raises the question of why there is such an emphasis on the media storm around Fauci, Wuhan and a possible lab escape. After all, the ‘perpetrators’ have significant control over the media. There’s no independent journalism at present. It is not as though they need to embarrass the establishment. I put it to readers that they’ve chosen to do so.
Advocates raise lead contamination concerns near site of metal factory explosion in Ohio | added March 23
Read more at CNN
Health advocates are urging Ohio state environmental officials to test for lead contamination in a community near the site of a metal factory explosion last month. A maintenance worker was killed and 12 other people were injured in the February 20 explosion at the I. Schumann & Co. facility near Oakwood Village, outside of Cleveland, officials said at the time. The site is a brass and bronze alloy manufacturer, and lead is often used to improve the metals’ machinability.
Debris from the explosion was found scattered on surrounding buildings and parking lots and the blast blew out windows nearby, a witness said. Multiple fire departments responded to put out a fire that sent black smoke billowing into the air over the factory. Now local advocates are raising concerns that people living nearby weren’t notified about the potential risk of being exposed to hazardous materials like lead.
“There is no safe level of contamination, and we have to do everything in our power to make sure that we’re protecting our communities and the most vulnerable citizens. So we have to make sure that we’re protecting our babies,” Yvonka M. Hall, executive director of the Northeast Ohio Black Health Coalition and president of the Cleveland Lead Advocates for Safe Housing, a coalition of local non-profit organizations and local leaders, told CNN.
Nearly 64% of residents in Oakwood Village are Black or African American, according to US Census data.
Nationally recognized stockholder rights law firm announces class action lawsuit filed against Norfolk Southern Corporation | added March 23
Read more at Business Wire
NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C., a nationally recognized stockholder rights law firm, announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Norfolk Southern Corporation (“Norfolk Southern” or the “Company”) (NYSE: NSC) in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio on behalf of all persons and entities who purchased or otherwise acquired Norfolk Southern securities between October 28, 2020 and March 3, 2023, both dates inclusive (the “Class Period”). Investors have until May 15,2023 to apply to the Court to be appointed as lead plaintiff in the lawsuit.
Norfolk Southern is a rail transportation company that implemented a strategy known as “Precision Scheduled Railroading” (“PSR”), which is associated with hyper-efficient operational changes designed to increase revenues and decrease costs. Operational changes typically include reductions in staff; longer, heavier trains that can stretch up to miles in length; and tighter schedules.
The Norfolk Southern class action lawsuit alleges that defendants throughout the Class Period made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Norfolk Southern’s PSR, including its use of longer, heavier trains staffed by fewer personnel, had led to Norfolk Southern suffering increased train derailments and a materially increased risk of future derailments; (ii) Norfolk Southern’s PSR was part of a culture of increased risk-taking at the expense of reasonable safety precautions due to Norfolk Southern’s near-term focus solely on profits.
A log of lawsuits filed against Norfolk Southern Corporation | added March 23
Read more at The Repository
[March 2, 2023] EAST PALESTINE – The number of federal lawsuits over the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine continues to grow. At least 25 suits have been filed in the U.S. District Court’s Northern District of Ohio since Feb. 7.Housing market is a concern:Would you buy a home in East Palestine? Perception hurts. A 26th lawsuit was filed by shareholders against Norfolk Southern in the U.S. District Court’s Southern District of Ohio on March 16. The train was carrying hazardous materials to Conway, Pennsylvania, when it wrecked and caught fire, forcing evacuations. A controlled release of vinyl chloride, a toxic and flammable gas, in five cars was conducted Feb. 6 to prevent a possible explosion.
The lawsuits filed seek class-action status, compensatory and punitive damages and other actions. Most of them target Norfolk Southern. Here’s a look at each one by plaintiffs, defendants, filing date and notable information in the claims (latest to oldest): Bucks County Employees Retirement System suit
Plaintiffs: Bucks County Employees Retirement System
Defendants: Norfolk Southern Corp., Alan H. Shaw, James A. Squires and Mark R. George
Filing date: March 16 (in Columbus)
East Palestine mother on toxic train derailment: ‘My 7-year-old asked me if he is going to die from living in his own home’ | added March 23
Read more at ABC News
Some East Palestine, Ohio, residents are still grappling with the aftershock of last month’s train derailment, with one mother offering compelling testimony about how the incident traumatized her young child.
The night of the incident, a “huge fireball” was visible from East Palestine resident Misti Allison’s driveway, she testified to the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, vowing, “We will never forget the night the train derailed.” “My 7-year-old has asked me if he is going to die from living in his own home. What do I tell him?” she asked lawmakers Wednesday.
Allison said the accident “put a scarlet letter on our town” that has resulted in tumbling home values and financial strain for the village. “I’m here to put a face on this disaster,” said Misti Allison, a mother of two who lives in East Palestine. “This isn’t just a political issue. It is a people issue.” Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw has repeatedly refused to commit to certain points on rail and worker safety and commitments to the East Palestine community.
NTSB chair says more freight train images and recordings are essential for investigation | added March 23
Read more at NBC News
WASHINGTON — The head of the National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday that freight trains should be required to have inward- and outward-facing image and audio recorders in the wake of the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment.
NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy testified before the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee that the Norfolk Southern train involved in the Feb. 3 derailment had only an inward-facing camera and that the data was overwritten.
“Since the locomotive was put immediately back into service following the accident, the data was overwritten,” she said. “That means the recorder only provided about 15 minutes of data before the derailment and five minutes after.” Major derailments of commuter trains near Los Angeles and Philadelphia in the last 20 years led to a law that required Amtrak and commuter railroads to have “crash- and fire-hardened inward- and outward-facing image recorders for locomotives that have a minimum of a 12-hour continuous recording capability,” Homendy said.
Norfolk Southern CEO faces Senate Commerce Committee over toxic train derailment | added March 23
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Alan Shaw, CEO of Norfolk Southern, faces the Senate Commerce Committee to discuss the East Palestine train derailment disaster.
White House ‘covid’ response coordinator reports a disbanding of team in May | added March 23
Read more at The Guardian
The Washington Post reported that Ashish Jha, Joe Biden’s covid response coordinator, is likely to leave the administration once the team is dissolved, as the president seeks to move forward from a pandemic which has killed more than 1.1 million in the US.
The covid national and public health emergencies are set to end on 11 May, bringing to a close some of the benefits to which Americans have been entitled since the pandemic began, including free coronavirus testing and treatment. The disbandment of the White House covid response team comes as Republicans in Congress have launched multiple investigations into the origins of the virus.
Republican members of the Congress have pushed theories that the virus came from a lab leak in China, while the stacking a coronavirus House committee with representatives who have a history of spreading misinformation about covid. “As a result of this administration’s historic response to covid, we as a nation are in a safer, better place than we were three years ago,” a senior administration official told the Washington Post.
China approves first domestically made mRNA ‘covid’ jab | added March 23
Read more at Al Jazeera
China has approved its first domestically developed mRNA vaccine against covid-19, its manufacturer said on Wednesday, months after the relaxation of strict zero-covid regulations sparked a surge in cases.
The vaccine, developed by CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Ltd, has been approved for “emergency use” by Beijing’s health regulator, the company said in a statement on Wednesday. It showed high efficacy in a trial in which it was used as a booster shot for people who have been given other types of vaccines, the company added, without offering further details.
China, whose home-grown vaccines are seen as less effective than the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA shots, has been racing to develop vaccines using messenger RNA (mRNA) technology since early 2020. While traditional vaccines use a weakened or inactivated germ to prepare the body for a future attack from the real virus, mRNA deploys snippets of genetic material that carry instructions showing the body’s cells how to produce a protein – in this case, the spike protein on the coronavirus that causes covid.
NTSB investigative report presents ‘anomalies’ in derailed train cars’ pressure relief devices | added March 22
Read more at WKBN
WASHINGTON, D.C. (WKBN) – Testing by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) revealed some anomalies in the pressure relief devices removed from the five rail tank cars that were hauling vinyl chloride.
The testing was done as part of an NTSB investigation of the train derailment of a Norfolk Southern train in East Palestine. According to the NTSB, the pressure relief devices, or PRDs, regulate the internal pressure of rail tank cars by releasing material when under pressure, reducing the potential for a catastrophic tank failure. NTSB investigators recovered the PRDs and tested them at a facility in Texas.
The examination and testing revealed the following findings:
NTSB testing found anomalies in the function of some PRDs that may have compromised their pressure-relieving capability. This will require further testing and evaluation to assess the impact on the operation of the PRDs.
According to the manufacturer’s part specifications, one of the installed PRD’s internal springs was coated with aluminum, which is not compatible with vinyl chloride.
While aluminum debris from melted protective housing covers entered the PRD discharge areas, there was no evidence that melted aluminum entered the tank. The NTSB continues to assess if the debris impacted the PRD operation.
Norfolk Southern CEO supports parts of bipartisan Senate bill for tougher railroad safety regulations | added March 22
Read more at AP News
WASHINGTON (AP) — Norfolk Southern’s CEO is offering support for some parts of a bipartisan Senate bill to put tougher safety regulations on railroads after last month’s fiery hazardous materials train derailment on the Ohio-Pennsylvania border.
CEO Alan Shaw is under pressure from senators and federal safety regulators to step up his commitment to safety regulations as he appears before the Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday. Under aggressive questioning from senators earlier this month in a separate hearing, he committed to voluntary safety upgrades and earnestly apologized for the derailment that upended life in East Palestine, Ohio. But Shaw had stopped short of endorsing proposed safety regulations under the Railway Safety Act of 2023.
This time, Shaw says in prepared remarks released Tuesday that Norfolk Southern will “support legislative efforts to enhance the safety of the freight rail industry.” But he does not address several key provisions of the Railway Safety Act, including increased fines for safety violations and designating trains that carry flammable liquids as highly hazardous.
Norfolk Southern CEO apologizes to East Palestine residents for hazardous train derailment by vowing to “make this right” | added March 22
Read more at Yahoo News
Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw apologized to the residents of East Palestine, Ohio, and vowed to “make this right,” during testimony before a Pennsylvania Senate committee on Monday.
Shaw stated that Norfolk will “make good on its promise” to clean the site safely and thoroughly. He also noted that Norfolk has already set aside $7.5 million to support a community relief fund related to the toxic derailment.
“I want to begin today by expressing how deeply sorry I am for the impact this derailment has had on the citizens of East Palestine and the communities in western Pennsylvania,” Shaw told the committee.
“I’ve been to East Palestine and Pennsylvania many times over the past six weeks. I’ve talked with community leaders, business owners, school officials, faith-based leaders and others throughout the community. They’ve shared their stories and their concerns about the health of their families, their businesses and the future of the community they love. I am determined to make this right,” he added.
U.S. lawmakers to hear testimony on safety record of Norfolk Southern | added March 22
Read more at USA Today
A committee of U.S. lawmakers are expected to hear testimony Wednesday morning on the safety record of Norfolk Southern, the Atlanta-based railroad operator, whose train derailed last month in East Palestine, Ohio.
The hearing comes just days after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael S. Regan told reporters that he believed Norfolk Southern should be moving faster to remove contaminated soil from East Palestine more than a month after the Feb. 3 train derailment, and that at the current rate, the site would take roughly three months to clean up.
The derailment near the rural town of 4,700 people along the Ohio-Pennsylvania border resulted in massive black plumes of smoke and concerns about air, water and soil quality. Five of the derailed cars contained the highly toxic carcinogen, vinyl chloride, which Norfolk Southern officials released and burned off to prevent an explosion.
East Palestine Ohio family shares devastating impact of toxic train derailment in their community | added March 22
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For the past six weeks the nation’s attention has turned to East Palestine, Ohio, after a Norfolk Southern train derailed there, releasing toxic chemicals. And while the company continues to clean spilled chemicals — and as law makers debate how to respond — community member lives have been upended. Patrick and Ruth Souders are one such couple. They bought their dream home there, six years ago.
WESA’s Oliver Morrison spoke to them about all the ways the derailment continues to disrupt their lives, from the moment they saw the flames out their front window.
Railroad industry under scrutiny: How many U.S. train derailments happened in 2023? | added March 22
Read more at Independent
The Ohio train derailment of 3 February, in which carriages from a 150-car freight liner carrying toxic chemicals crashed off the tracks in the town of East Palestine, is just one of more than a dozen rail accidents reported to have already taken place in the US since the start of 2023.
The accident was not even the first to have occurred in Ohio this year, according to Newsweek, with another derailment having taken place on 19 January between Trinway and Adam’s Mill.
In that incident, an Ohio Central Railroad train comprising 97 cars and stretching for 1.2 miles slid off the rails, although they were empty at the time so leaked no cargo and no one was hurt. “A thorough investigation into the cause is still underway,” a corporate spokesman told The Zanesville Times Recorder in its aftermath, adding that he expected his crew to have the cars upright and the scene cleared within a week.
Ten lawsuits filed thus far since toxic East Palestine, Ohio train derailment | added March 22
Read more at FOX 19
[Feb. 20, 2023] CINCINNATI (WXIX) – Norfolk Southern Railway and/or Norfolk Southern Corp. now face 10 lawsuits over the Feb. 3 train derailment and release of chemicals, including some that cause cancer, in East Palestine, Ohio.Norfolk Southern is the same company working to buy Cincinnati’s municipally owned railway for $1.6 billion. The first suit was filed on Feb. 7 in federal court in the Youngstown area of northern Ohio, the seventh and eighth were filed Thursday, the ninth was filed Friday and the tenth one was filed Monday, court records show.
The suits seek class-action status with more than $5 million in damages, court records show. They allege similar claims of negligence and carelessness that allegedly caused the train derailment and subsequent unleashing of toxic chemicals.
The most recent lawsuit, filed on behalf of residents Tina Ibel and Sheryl Tomor, alleges a train car was “sparking” and/or “burning” 20 minutes before it reached East Palestine and a “hotbox” detector in Salem, Ohio, should have detected this activity and alerted the crew, but it is not known if this occurred.
The suit was filed by attorneys Terence Coates and Justin Walker with the downtown Cincinnati law firm Markovits, Stock & DeMarco. It notes that one of the residents, Tina Ibel, lives just four or five houses away from one of the burnt railcars.
The misconception of ‘covid’ origins | added March 22
Watch on Dr. Sam Bailey
The United States Government purports to be investigating the “origins of covid-19”. But how do you investigate something that doesn’t exist?
Unfortunately, many health “freedom” leaders are claiming that this is the smoking gun for gain of function lab leaks. Although, they admit that there has been a huge amount of fraud going on during the scamdemic, why are they propagating virology’s pseudoscience?
We’ve been going over the fundamental flaws in the virologists’ methodologies for quite some time and it looks like we still have more work to do…
Moderna to price ‘covid’ jab at $130 a dose | added March 22
Read more at The Wall Street Journal
Moderna Inc. MRNA -0.83% decrease; red down pointing triangle will price its covid-19 vaccine at about $130 a dose when it shifts to commercial distribution of the shots later this year, much higher than what the federal government has paid.
The plans could add to criticism of the company from lawmakers who are scheduled to explore the cost of the shots at a hearing Wednesday.
The cost could vary depending on contracts reached with health systems, pharmacies, federal health programs and other potential buyers, but the company has settled on a price of about $130, Moderna President Stephen Hoge said.
“We tried to think very reasonably about the price of this, and I think we’ve landed on a price that is consistent with value,” Dr. Hoge said.
Moderna, like other covid-19 vaccine makers, has been developing a list price for its shots and negotiating contracts as the federal government winds down its exclusive pandemic purchasing arrangements.
Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw testifies before Senate Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee in Harrisburg, PA | added March 21
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After answering questions about the toxic Ohio train derailment during a U.S. Senate committee hearing earlier this month, Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw will now testify in Pennsylvania before the Senate Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee in Harrisburg.
Scientists scan for toxins as East Palestine residents struggle to breathe near train derailment | added March 21
Read more at Nature
Residents of East Palestine, Ohio, have complained of symptoms including headaches and difficulty breathing following a nearby train derailment that spilled millions of litres of industrial chemicals last month. Officials at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and local, state and federal agencies, as well as the train’s operator, Norfolk Southern, have been monitoring water and air quality in the town — but community members haven’t been satisfied with official reports claiming that levels of the chemicals are low and safe.
Some independent researchers have arrived on the scene, hoping to help with more measurements and analyses. Others have been invited by residents who want a second opinion. The teams think they can help to fill the gaps left by authorities.
“The residents had a disconnect between them experiencing some symptoms, and everybody telling them everything was okay,” says Ivan Rusyn, director of the Texas A&M University Superfund Research Center in College Station. Rusyn is part of a group of researchers at Texas A&M and Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, that drove a mobile laboratory around East Palestine on 20 and 21 February to measure air quality. Many of their measurements agreed with the EPA’s.
But the researchers did detect levels of acrolein — a chemical irritant that affects the eyes, skin and respiratory system — that were three times as high as those in downtown Pittsburgh, some 80 kilometres away. (On a normal day, rural areas such as East Palestine usually have lower levels of air pollutants than do urban ones.) The scientists say that, if this level persists, it could affect residents’ health.
Retired Norfolk Southern engineer blames reduced safety protocols for toxic train derailment | added March 21
Read more at FOX News
MONROEVILLE, Pa. – A recently retired Norfolk Southern engineer, who worked the very same rail route where the horrific derailment unfolded last month in East Palestine, Ohio, says it could have been prevented had the industry not seen a reduction in safety protocols.
“It was very likely due to not having enough time given to the car inspector at the originating point to be able to fully assess that car or any of the other cars and train, for that matter… They used to have between five and eight minutes to inspect a car,” Scott Wilcox of Avonmore, Pennsylvania, who retired from an 18-year career with Norfolk Southern in July of last year, said in an interview with Fox News.
“But now, from what I’ve heard from car inspectors, is they’re down to like between 30 seconds to a minute. So, they may not have time to check everything. The length of some of these cars, it’ll take you 30 seconds just to walk the length of it.”
Norfolk Southern CEO to testify in front of Pennsylvania State Senate Committee | added March 20
Read more at WKBN 27
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio (WKBN) — Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw will testify in front of a Pennsylvania State Senate Committee. Shaw was subpoenaed to testify earlier this month but was unable to attend. The hearing was rescheduled for 10 a.m. Monday. The Pennsylvania Senate Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee has waited weeks for this hearing with Alan Shaw.
The last meeting on the derailment was on March 8. Even though Shaw was supposed to testify but didn’t, a lot was discussed. The committee considered two Senate bills and one resolution. All had overwhelming support. One of the bills was to establish the Train Derailment Emergency Grant Program. The resolution was to recognize the impact of the derailment on Pennsylvania residents. State Senator Doug Mastriano (R-33) says all they want is the truth.
“I hope he’s forthcoming as he has been in other interviews. He’s under subpoena, he’ll be under oath. It behooves him to testify with honesty, clarity and ask the questions and not to filibuster…” Mastriano said. Mastriano says they will not allow for time to be wasted. He says both Republicans and Democrats are working together to ensure residents get answers.
Women unsure whether to return home after conflicting chemical test results from East Palestine train explosion | added March 20
Read more at WKBN 27
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio (WKBN) — When the EPA administrator visited East Palestine the first time, he went inside a home and watched an air test. The home owner says she just wants to come home, but there are still some hurdles to clear before she feels comfortable in doing do.
Krissy Ferguson invited First News reporter/anchor Dave Sess into her home to get a sense of the conditions. It’s quiet, dark, and there’s definitely something in the air. “It never smelled like this before, and I’ve lived here all my life,” she said.
The home was built in the 1930s. Its family run started with Ferguson’s great-grandmother. The home was eventually moved over a creek, which runs through town, to it’s present location on East Rebecca Street. When the train derailed, Ferguson and five other family members left. “Nobody wants to leave. All my memories: Of being a child, my daughter, my father passed away in this home. It’s been our home,” Ferguson said.
Florida’s Collier County rejects CDC/NIH grant that coerces poor communities to get ‘covid’ injections | added March 20
Read more at Stand For Health Freedom
On February 14, 2023, the Collier County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously (5-0) to reject a $1.2 million-dollar grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), including refunding the $167,000 that has already been spent. Although the grant was promoted as being for “health education,” the Covid-19 Extra Mile Migrant Farmworker grant appears to have been more focused on coercing those in poorer communities to get vaccinated against covid-19.
And worst of all, in classic side-stepping of informed consent, the information provided about the shot made no mention of side effects or the fact that the jab does not even prevent the injected from contracting covid-19. Attorney Jeff Childers explained on his Substack, “the CDC’s outdated ‘education materials’ were indistinguishable from pharma marketing materials.
In fact, it’s worse than that. Pharma is required by law to state their drugs’ side effects in their drug ads. But now they’ve found a way to get around that requirement: by having official U.S. government agencies do the marketing for them. It’s so simple!”
EPA estimates three month cleanup for East Palestine train derailment despite no dioxin test results | added March 20
Editor’s Note: The toxic train derailment response in East Palestine, Ohio by officials sounds very familiar to the three mile nuclear meltdown in Pennsylvania where residents were told it was safe but later came to find it was not. — mmd
Read more at CNN
Cleanup of the toxic train derailment site in the Ohio town of East Palestine will likely take about three months, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency said Friday. EPA Administrator Michael Regan said 6.8 million gallons of liquid waste and more than 5,400 tons of solid waste have already been transported to designated facilities – including 1,600 tons in the past 48 hours.
The train wreck early last month ignited a dayslong fire, spewed poisonous fumes into the air, killed thousands of fish and temporarily displaced residents. The derailment prompted fears of a catastrophic explosion of vinyl chloride – a highly flammable chemical linked to an increased risk of cancer. After a mandatory evacuation order, crews released vinyl chloride into a trench and burned it – averting an explosion but spawning new health concerns.
Nearly half of the total excavation of contaminated soil from under the tracks was completed as of Thursday, including the entire south track, Regan told reporters. North track excavation should be completed by early next month, he said. Train operator Norfolk Southern is handling and paying for all necessary cleanup. The company has sent some hazardous waste out of state, fueling more concerns about safety.
Ohio representatives introduce bipartisan bill to improve railroad safety after hazardous train explosion | added Mar. 20
Read more at Akron Beacon Journal
Two U.S. representatives from Ohio have introduced a bipartisan bill to try to improve railroad safety in light of last month’s train derailment in East Palestine. U.S. Representatives Bill Johnson (R-6) and Emilia Sykes (D-13) on Friday introduced the Reducing Accidents in Locomotives (RAIL) Act.
Under the act, the secretary of transportation would be directed to issue new rules to improve safety based on the findings of the NTSB investigation, in conjunction with the Federal Railroad Administration. The act would increase inspections on all trains, including those carrying hazardous materials; increase maximum penalties for violations of rail safety regulations; and audit federal rail inspection programs.
The act would also strengthen regulations to prevent wheel bearing failures, which caused the East Palestine train derailment, and strengthen requirements for safety placards that would have helped emergency responders in identifying the hazardous materials in the rail cars on-site, as well as increase funding for hazardous materials training for first responders.
Two healthy hellbender salamanders found in North Fork Little Beaver Creek considered ‘positive discovery’ after chemical train wreck, according to state officials | added March 20
Read more at CBS Pittsburgh
Two healthy hellbender salamanders were found in North Fork Little Beaver Creek, something Ohio state officials called a “positive discovery” after the toxic train derailment in East Palestine.
Gov. Mike DeWine’s office said hellbenders, an endangered aquatic amphibian, are considered an “indicator species” because their absence or presence is an indicator of the ecosystem’s health. They can only survive in cool, clean water.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources with partners from the Ohio EPA and Ohio State University found a hellbender estimated to be 7 years old and a juvenile. Both were released back into North Fork Little Beaver Creek.
Residents fall ill after East Palestine train wreck, “I just don’t trust their results” | added March 20
Read more at WKYC
“I just don’t trust their results,” Miller said of state and federal officials. “We’re all ending up sick, and they’re telling us its safe and everything’s at a safe level. Then why are we all sick?” She shared those test results with 3News. The samples were taken on Feb. 22, and show dioxins and other chemicals known to cause cancer and numerous health issues.
“I would like to say that I was shocked, but I really wasn’t because [of] the amount of people that are sick and the amount of people that are trying to say, ‘Hey, we’re right here. Pay attention. We’re sick.'” One test showed 130 picograms of dioxins per liter. According to the World Health Organization, 70 picograms per kilogram of body weight a month is safe to be ingested without “detectable health effects.”
After calls for dioxin testing, on March 2, the EPA required Norfolk Southern to begin directly testing those levels. Miller says morale in the village is only declining, with residents feeling like they’re still not being heard and not trusting what they’re being told. “There are less and less of us that are showing up to these town hall meetings,” she added. “Everyone is just so sick of the crap that they’re trying to give us.”
“Jeep Invasion 2023” rides through East Palestine, Ohio in support of small businesses; plastic ducks for kids and free t-shirts | added March 20
Read more at WFMJ 21
It’s been a little more than six weeks since the disaster in East Palestine and many businesses there are still struggling. On Saturday, visitors from three different states drove home the message that businesses there need help. Downtown East Palestine shortly after 11:00 a.m. hundreds of Jeep owners, their families and friends drove down North Market Street as part of the Jeep Invasion.
The Jeep owners who traveled a distance are here to support local businesses that have been struggling since the Norfolk Southern train derailment. “The Jeep community is huge! We love to support local towns and we benefit so many other people and places. We’ve traveled all over the country doing this kind of stuff,” Jacob Tate said.
He and his wife and children took part in the parade then went shopping. Kids faces lit up along with adults as they stood curbside to watch. Jeep owners are known for ducking, which means they keep ducks with notes on them handy then for other jeep owners. At this Jeep Invasion they also tossed plastic ducks to kids and adults along the street as a way to put smiles on faces. Each person who took part was able to receive a free T-Shirt that says First annual East Palestine Jeep Invasion 2023.
Pfizer and CDC withheld ‘covid’ vax injury data, according to leaked documents by Project Veritas | added March 20
Read more at The Defender
Pfizer and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) withheld evidence that covid-19 vaccinations led to an increased risk of myocarditis, especially in young males, according to two sets of documents made public this week.
Confidential Pfizer documents leaked Thursday by Project Veritas show the company had “evidence that suggests patients who receive a covid-19 vaccine are at an increased risk of myocarditis.” And heavily redacted CDC documents obtained by Children’s Health Defense (CHD) via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request indicate the agency provided an undercounted figure of post-covid-19-vaccination myocarditis cases to Israel’s Ministry of Health in early 2021.
The latest revelations come as Germany, Japan and other governments are raising questions about the significant numbers of severe adverse events recorded in individuals following administration of the covid-19 vaccines. According to researchers at the National Organization for Rare Disorders, myocarditis can result from infections, or it may result directly from a toxic effect such as a toxin or a virus.
Bruce Springsteen, Amanda Bynes, Rod Steward, George Ezra, Jeno rapper and two South Korean bands cancel shows due to illness | added March 20
Read more at Mark Crispin Miller Substack
Bruce Springsteen’s past health struggles have been revisited following the postponement of his supposed concert in Ohio. Nationwide Arena released a statement on Twitter confirming the postponement of Springsteen and The E Street Band’s show at the venue on March 9 due to illness. It did not disclose the exact issue and the identity of the band member who is currently sick.
In the past months, several members of the band missed some shows due to covid, including Soozie Tyrell, Jake Clemons, Nils Lofgren, and Steven Van Zandt. Although it remains unknown whether Springsteen or someone else has been afflicted, talks about the singer’s past health issues reemerged. The 2023 tour marked Springsteen and the band’s first performance since 2017. Before his comeback, Springsteen faced health issues that almost affected his career.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Springsteen opened up about the throat surgery and depression he went through. For his throat surgery, he revealed that he had to receive an operation to fix the chronic numbness in his left side that affected him whenever he played the guitar. During the procedure, the doctors cut his throat open and tied his vocal cords temporarily so that they could insert the disc into his neck.
New PWFM is ready — Now it’s time for Pluto in Aquarius | added March 19
Read more at Planet Waves FM from Chiron Return
The full program is ready — and usually posts well ahead of its scheduled time of 10 pm ET. Here is the associated article on Substack. I’ll have more resources overnight or tomorrow, but here is the Biggus Dickus scene from Life of Brian. Here is Sam Bailey and I on the the Digital Seduction of Covid. And here is my tribute to Lou Reed, called Hey Sugar. Oh, one last — Made in America: Anaretic Pluto, with a special edition of STARCAST.
New East Palestine winery opens within a quarter mile of toxic chemical train explosion | added March 19
Read more at WKBN 27
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio (WKBN) — It’s been a month and a half since the devastating train derailment in East Palestine, and after years of work, a small business opened its doors less than a quarter mile from the derailment site.
Ashlee and Mike McKim officially opened their Taggart Street location Friday night after years of working out of their home. On Saturday, McKim’s Honeyvine & Winery held a ribbon-cutting ceremony. “We’ve been at this for about seven years now, we started out of our home making small batches,” Ashlee McKim said.
The McKims spent about two years working and remodeling the Taggart Street business. They say the derailment hasn’t delayed their work, and they’re glad to be open. “The community has been absolutely phenomenal,” Mike McKim said. “We’ve been through a lot in the last month and a half, but we’re coming together.” The McKims have heard concerns from people in the area, but say they’re using bottled water for all their products and have been doing independent water testing, which has been promising.
Our World in Data project at the University of Oxford tracks ‘covid’ vaccinations via government sources | added March 19
Read more at The New York Times
The data is compiled from government sources by the Our World in Data project at the University of Oxford. A vaccinated person refers to someone who has received at least one dose of a vaccine, and a fully vaccinated person has received either a single-dose vaccine or both doses of a two-dose vaccine, such as the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna shots.
Many countries started to administer additional doses toward the end of 2021 after research found that vaccine effectiveness wanes over time. More than 2.72 billion additional doses have been administered worldwide. Additional doses include booster doses given to fully vaccinated individuals when the protection from the original shots has begun to decline, as well as extra shots given to people, such as the immunocompromised, who did not have a strong immune response from their initial doses.
Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, the manufacturers of two of the most widely used covid-19 vaccinations, have developed updated vaccines that more effectively protect against the newer omicron variant. These are currently being administered in many countries, including the United States and Britain. Vaccination rates around the world have stagnated in recent months, with public demand dropping even as vaccine supply has become more abundant.
Del Bigtree is tripping balls | added March 19
Read more at Planet Waves FM from Chiron Return
Hello — Where is Discussion of the Missing Virus Problem?
THERE EXISTS A LITTLE PROBLEM with how no government, institutional entity or public health agency can produce evidence of a sample of SARS-CoV-2 found in a human host. Whatever the source of the claimed virus — natural or human-made — nobody has any of the stuff, or a record of anyone who does.
Mind-blowing, I know. It must be wrong. This cannot be right.
You’re all crazy, you who believe this. That’s the position of the mainstream “health freedom” movement that has emerged from the ruins of 2020, which is having a hard time handling the issue.
Read my history of how SARS-CoV-2 is the product of metagenomic transcription — the sequences claimed to be viruses were created in China using artificial intelligence. If they escaped from anywhere, it was by email.
Pro-Russian voices linked to ‘misleading’ claims about East Palestine toxic train explosion, mass animal die-offs and media coverups | added March 19
Read more at AP News
WASHINGTON (AP) — Soon after a train derailed and spilled toxic chemicals in Ohio last month, anonymous pro-Russian accounts started spreading misleading claims and anti-American propaganda about it on Twitter, using Elon Musk’s new verification system to expand their reach while creating the illusion of credibility.
The accounts, which parroted Kremlin talking points on myriad topics, claimed without evidence that authorities in Ohio were lying about the true impact of the chemical spill. The accounts spread fearmongering posts that preyed on legitimate concerns about pollution and health effects and compared the response to the derailment with America’s support for Ukraine following its invasion by Russia.
Some of the claims pushed by the pro-Russian accounts were verifiably false, such as the suggestion that the news media had covered up the disaster or that environmental scientists traveling to the site had been killed in a plane crash. But most were more speculative, seemingly designed to stoke fear or distrust. Examples include unverified maps showing widespread pollution, posts predicting an increase in fatal cancers and others about unconfirmed mass animal die-offs.
Norfolk Southern shareholders sue railroad for prioritizing profit over safety | added March 19
Read more at Reuters
Norfolk Southern Corp (NSC.N) shareholders have accused the railroad of defrauding them by prioritizing profit over safety prior to last month’s derailment of a train carrying hazardous chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio.
In a lawsuit filed on Thursday in Columbus, Ohio, federal court, shareholders said Norfolk Southern played down the risks of using what is called “Precision Scheduled Railroading,” which relies on longer and heavier trains that require fewer workers. Shareholders said Norfolk Southern embraced a “culture of increased risk-taking” that left it vulnerable to increased train derailments, making its public statements about the safety of its operations materially false or misleading.
A Norfolk Southern spokesman declined to comment, saying the Atlanta-based company does not discuss pending litigation. Other defendants include Chief Executive Alan Shaw, his predecessor James Squires, and Chief Financial Officer Mark George. Norfolk Southern has faced many lawsuits over the Feb. 3 derailment, including cases brought by local residents and Ohio’s attorney general.
Tennis star Novak Djokovic to miss Miami Open over refusing ‘covid’ jab | added March 19
Read more at ESPN
Novak Djokovic will miss next week’s Miami Open after being denied an exemption that would have allowed him to enter the U.S. despite not being vaccinated against covid-19, tournament director James Blake said Friday.
“We tried to get Novak Djokovic to be allowed to get an exemption, but that wasn’t able to happen,” Blake told Tennis Channel. “Obviously, we’re one of the premier tournaments in the world. We’d like to have the best players that can play. We did all that we could. We tried to talk to the government, but that’s out of our hands.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott were among those calling on the Biden administration to allow Djokovic to enter the U.S. and compete at the tournament he has won six times, most recently in 2016.
Concerning levels of dioxins near East Palestine train derailment, according to newly released data | added March 17
Editor’s Note: The confirmation of dioxin levels in any soil sample that is 14 times higher than most states limit is reason enough to evacuate the entire area. It is unacceptable the results have taken this long. Meanwhile, on February 10, the EPA stated soil samples were being taken, over a month ago. — mmd
Read more at The Guardian
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 are “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.”
“I don’t think anyone’s coming, customer-wise”: Business owners stuck in East Palestine chemical zone after train explosion | added March 17
Read more at WKBN 27
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio (WKBN) – Business owners in East Palestine are struggling more than a month after the toxic chemical spill. Nate Velez builds and repairs small engines. This time of year, Velez Engines would normally be busy getting mowers ready to run, but it hasn’t had a customer since the train derailment. He is hoping something changes.
“I know the business is probably dead. I don’t think anyone’s coming, customer-wise,” he said. Velez started the company as a side job in 2014 and made it his main source of income three years ago. He moved to East Palestine from Wexford. He’s paying a mortgage but not living at the home because it’s on the street right next to the chemical spill. “From day one, I’ve said to my wife over and over again, “We’re on our own.” We figured out how to do it once and now we just gotta do it again,” Velez said.
“I don’t know what they’re doing. Cleaning the creek,” Velez said. Taggart Street is open coming from East Palestine to Velez Engines, but one of Velez’s biggest problems is that the road is coming from the east. It still cuts off most of the traffic. Velez misses working in the shop, tuning an engine, going on test drives, even concentrating so hard that he forgets time. The simple things.
Child and teen deaths surged during ‘covid’ pandemic due to homicide, suicide | added March 17
Read more at USA Today
Child and teen deaths surged during the covid-19 pandemic, driven by fatal injuries, in a dramatic change after decades of progress from medical advancements in pediatric diseases, according to an editorial published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Researchers analyzed death certificate data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and found pediatric mortality increased by 20% between 2019 and 2021 – the largest increase in 50 years. For decades, the overall death rate among Americans 19 and younger has been steadily decreasing because of breakthroughs in prevention and treatment for conditions like premature births, pediatric cancer, and birth defects, said lead author Dr. Steven Woolf, director emeritus of the Center on Society and Health at Virginia Commonwealth University.
But the new findings represent a reversal in this trend, “meaning that our children are now less likely to reach adulthood.” “It’s very tragic,” he said. “The progress that we’ve made in reducing death rates in children is the product of decades of research … and to see all of that progress be reversed by a handful of factors is really troubling.”
Made in America: Anaretic Pluto | added March 17
Read more at Planet Waves FM from Chiron Return
Dear Friend and Reader:
IN THE MIX OF ALL THE PLANETARY FANFARE we are witnessing — Mars, Saturn and Pluto changing signs, the completion of Mars square Neptune, and the forthcoming New Moon on the Aries equinox — it’s easy to forget about the U.S. Pluto return.
That was the big astrological news before the “pandemic.” But it got lost in the gritty sauce of Saturn conjunct Pluto on Jan. 12, 2020 and all that followed. (See full coverage of the unusual events of January 2020.)
Pluto is now in the last degree of Capricorn, after gradually transiting that sign since 2008. When a planet or luminary is in the last degree of a sign, it can behave in strange ways.
This is sometimes described as being “void of course,” which usually applies to the Moon but which can apply to the Sun or any planet. Yet when a planet is in the very last degree, contemporary astrologers call that “anaretic.”
There are many different ways of calculating whether a planet is anaretic, most of them lost to antiquity. Yet in our times, the term means “a planet about to change signs.”
From Greek, the definition of this word is “the destroyer.” This term is not recorded in any etymology dictionary that I know of, and the concept barely makes it into contemporary astrology texts. (So too does the fact that a planet can be void-of-course just like the Moon or the Sun can be.)
— efc
Ohio train derailment hotline reveals call logs containing warnings about dioxin | added March 17
Read more at Grid
On Feb. 17, a woman called an Environmental Protection Agency hotline set up to help respond to the train derailment and chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio. She reported that her son was sick — a croupy cough, a headache, his chest hurt, and he had a fever. They had been to the doctor, who could find no obvious cause.
“I mean the plume of smoke went right over our house and ever since then he has been sick,” the caller said, according to a transcription of a voicemail she left with the hotline. She reported getting in touch with a toxicologist working with Norfolk Southern, the rail company responsible for the derailment, but to no avail.
“That was a joke,” she said. “They are just trying to push it under the rug. I am hoping you aren’t going to do the same …. I’m concerned about his health. I’d like some answers and cooperation.”
The call is one of more than 250 that Ohio residents, scientists and even a member of Congress’ staff placed to the federal hotline starting about a week after the derailment Feb. 3 — looking for answers about the derailment, subsequent chemical spill and dramatic controlled burn of vinyl chloride. Grid obtained a log of calls from Feb. 8-21 through a Freedom of Information Act request. Together they show the cost of the confused and slow response in raw human terms.
East Palestine residents able to get free medical assistance from virtual Florida-based wellness company | added March 17
Read more at FOX News
[Feb. 27, 2023] As residents of East Palestine, Ohio, continue to struggle in the aftermath of the train derailment and subsequent toxic chemical fires earlier this month, a health-focused company has pledged to provide free medical care for victims.The Wellness Company of Boca Raton, Florida, is a virtual provider of health care, supplements and wellness services. It is now offering free online consultations with a licensed doctor or medical provider via its website. On Feb. 3, a train carrying vinyl chloride, a potentially hazardous chemical, derailed just outside the small town of East Palestine.
Railroad officials ordered a controlled burn of the chemicals, sending plumes of contaminated smoke into the sky. Since the derailment, East Palestinians have reported various degrees of sickness. One resident told Dr. Marc Siegel of New York City, a Fox News medical contributor, that she has experienced shortness of breath, headache, lightheadedness, irritated throat and swollen eyes. Her husband reported a gravelly voice, a headache that lasted for weeks, dizziness and a tingling sensation in his gums.
International team of virus experts link ‘covid’ to raccoon dogs in Wuhan illegal wildlife trade | added March 17
Read more at The New York Times
An international team of virus experts said on Thursday that they had found genetic data from a market in Wuhan, China, linking the coronavirus with raccoon dogs for sale there, adding evidence to the case that the worst pandemic in a century could have been ignited by an infected animal that was being dealt through the illegal wildlife trade.
The genetic data was drawn from swabs taken from in and around the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market starting in January 2020, shortly after the Chinese authorities had shut down the market because of suspicions that it was linked to the outbreak of a new virus. By then, the animals had been cleared out, but researchers swabbed walls, floors, metal cages and carts often used for transporting animal cages.
In samples that came back positive for the coronavirus, the international research team found genetic material belonging to animals, including large amounts that were a match for the raccoon dog, three scientists involved in the analysis said. The jumbling together of genetic material from the virus and the animal does not prove that a raccoon dog itself was infected. And even if a raccoon dog had been infected, it would not be clear that the animal had spread the virus to people.
German minister states ‘covid’ shots can cause permanent disabilities | added March 17
Read more at The Epoch Times
Germany’s Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach, who once claimed that covid-19 vaccination is free of side effects, admitted last week that he was wrong, saying adverse reactions occur at a rate of one in 10,000 doses and can cause “severe disabilities.”
On Aug. 14, 2021, Lauterbach said on Twitter that the vaccines had “no side effects,” further questioning why some Germans refused to get vaccinated against covid-19. During an interview on ZDF’s “Heute Journal” on March 12, Lauterbach was asked by anchor Christian Sievers about the claim he made in the summer of 2021, confronting the health minister with his previous tweet that stated the shots are virtually free of side effects.
Lauterbach responded that the tweet was “misguided” and an “exaggeration” he made at the time, noting that it “did not represent my true position.” “I’ve always been aware of the numbers and they’ve remained relatively stable … one in 10,000 [are injured],” Lauterbach said. “Some say that it’s a lot, and some say it’s not so many.” Lauterbach’s remark on vaccine adverse events came after the German network played a segment of several Germans who’ve been seriously injured after getting the shot, including a 17-year-old gymnast who previously competed in the German Artistic Gymnastics Championships before she was hospitalized for more than one year shortly after receiving the second dose of the BioNTech covid-19 vaccine.
In memory of those who ‘died suddenly’ in the United Sates, March 6-13 | added March 17
Read more at Mark Crispin Miller Substack
Rick “Shecky” Scheckman, who for more than 30 years came up with oddball footage for David Letterman’s late-night programs while also finding his way on camera for wacky comedy bits, has died. He was 67. Scheckman had “multiple health issues” and died early Friday morning at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan, his friend Leonard Maltin told The Hollywood Reporter.
Austin Majors, a former child actor best known for his role on “NYPD Blue,” has died, according to the Los Angeles Medical Examiner’s office. He was 27. He died February 11, 2023. The cause of death is still under investigation, according to medical examiner records. His family called Majors “an artistic, brilliant, and kind human being, who loved camping and fishing, graduated from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts and had a passion for directing and music producing. Austin was the kind of son, brother, grandson, and nephew that made us proud and we will miss him deeply forever.”
Train carrying hazardous materials derails in northern Arizona, no chemical spill reported | added March 16
Read more at The New York Post
A train carrying hazardous materials derailed in northern Arizona late Wednesday evening, according to local officials. The Mohave County Sheriff’s Office said the train derailed at the Topock Bridge near Interstate 40, but there was no indication that the potentially dangerous chemicals spilled.
Authorities have not yet reported any injuries or deaths relating to the derailment. The crash happened just north of Lake Havasu City, Arizona, near the border of California. Its cause is also unknown at this time. Anita Mortensen, a spokesperson of the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office, said information coming from the derailment was preliminary, and an investigation is still ongoing.
The BNSF Railway and the National Transportation Safety Board, are assisting in the investigation, according to FOX 10 Phoenix. The derailment is the latest in an unconnected series of derailments across the country, including one of the country’s worst derailments in East Palestine, Ohio. The Norfolk Southern derailment in Ohio, which took place on Feb. 3, resulted in air and water pollution and affected nearby residents and wildlife.
Senate Democrats propose funding increase for local emergency first responders in wake of East Palestine train explosion | added March 16
Read more at ABC News
Democrats in Congress are proposing additional aid for local first responders amid the ongoing conversation concerning rail safety in the wake of the February train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.
In the time since the Feb. 3 derailment, lawmakers in Washington have focused on the state and federal response to the spilling of toxic chemicals that contaminated soil and water in East Palestine and neighboring Darlington, Pennsylvania. Now, Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. Bob Casey is introducing legislation that would give local emergency workers additional resources to deal with similar incidents in the future.
According to U.S. Department of Transportation data, there have been an average of 1,475 train derailments per year from 2005-2021. Firefighters, police and other local agencies that deal with hazardous material are often the first to arrive on the scene of hazardous derailments, even before state and federal teams can be deployed. Casey’s bill, set to be introduced Thursday, would create a new fund which would be used to reimburse emergency responders for costs incurred when responding to a train derailment in their communities.
Brahmapuram dump site in India shows dangerous levels of dioxin contamination in wake of fire | added March 16
Read more at The News Minute
Studies on previous minor fire incidents at Brahmapuram dump site by National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology have shown dangerous levels of dioxin contamination. For the past 12 days, firefighters have been trying to douse the smouldering fire that spread on waste heaps at Brahmapuram in Kochi, a massive dump site spread over 110 acres housing an unwieldy mix of garbage — biodegradable and otherwise.
Multiple fire tender units are pumping in several thousands of litres of water per minute into the dump with help of earth movers which upheave the mounds so that water can reach the layers beneath. An update from the District Collector on March 12 said they have been successful in containing fire in five out of the seven sectors of the dump site, identified to streamline the firefighting operations. The remaining two sectors were both marshy lands where the fire tender units could not venture in.
Brahmapuram dump yard isn’t new to fires and an outbreak was witnessed as recently as in January 2022. But the blazes were controllable, and rarely lasted for more than two days. The incident in 2020, however, had concerned Justice AV Ramakrishna Pillai – then chairperson of the State Level Monitoring Committee (SLMC), an authority constituted by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) – enough to write to the Kerala State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) seeking a study of the dioxin emission at Brahmapuram.
Toronto joins communities along the Ohio River seeking reimbursement for Norfolk Southern’s hazardous train derailment | added March 16
Read more at Herald-Star
Toronto is among communities along the Ohio River expected to seek reimbursement for expenses arising from the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern trail derailment in East Palestine. On Monday, Toronto Council authorized Mayor John Parker to enter into an agreement by which the Morgan and Morgan Complex Litigation Group and the Weirton law firm of Frankovitch, Anetakis, Simon, DeCaptio and Pearl will pursue claims on the city’s behalf.
After the meeting, Parker said costs for the law firms’ representation will come from whatever funds they’re able to secure for the city. Following the derailment, Toronto personnel and others at water treatment plants along the Ohio River have reported taking additional measures to prevent butyl acrylate and other chemicals spilled by the train from entering their water supplies.
“We’re treating (the water) with triple the amount of chemical and paying for testing on top of what we would normally do,” said Parker. He and other Toronto officials said as a more modern facility, the city’s water plant is well equipped to address such situations. Garry Daugherty, the city’s water superintendent, earlier reported that state officials had recommended using 30 pounds of powder activated carbon, a charcoal like filter, to remove any butyl acrylate present and while the Toronto plant normally uses 60 pounds of carbon per day, it has been raised to 125 pounds as a safeguard.
Virginia fines Norfolk Southern $27K for dumping 13,000 tons of coal into Roanoke River | added March 16
Read more at WRIC ABC 8
RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — A national rail giant will pay just $27,300 to Virginia after a derailment in 2020 dumped over 1,300 tons of coal into the Roanoke River. In an enforcement order published on March 10, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VDEQ) published their report outlining the impact of the accident and the penalties Norfolk Southern would face.
The derailment occurred on October 30, 2020 when 26 cars jumped the tracks on a train bridge over the Roanoke River West of Salem, Virginia. 16 of those cars, carrying approximately 2,600 tons of coal, ended up in the river below. In the weeks after the derailment, Norfolk Southern removed a total of 1,349 tons of coal from the river, though the VDEQ report notes that recent rain and high waters at the time of the event meant that much of the coal was swept downstream.
The biggest impact of the derailment was the shuttering of the nearby Salem Water Treatment Plant for a month. The plant, which was 3.4 miles downstream from the derailment, had to close until the coal has been cleaned up — or swept downstream. The $27,000 fine was agreed to by Norfolk Southern, who signed the consent order in February, but local environmental groups objected to VDEQ’s decision, claiming the law would have allowed for a much harsher fine.
General timeline of toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio | added March 16
Editor’s Note: Planet Waves investigative team is also working on a more comprehensive timeline of events. —mmd
Read more at The New York Times
On Feb. 3, a Norfolk Southern train carrying toxic chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, igniting a fire and setting off fears of an explosion. The authorities carried out a controlled release and burn-off of some of the train’s hazardous cargo, but residents on both sides of the Ohio-Pennsylvania state line are concerned about the impact on their health and the environment.
Here is a timeline of the derailment and its aftermath, from the evacuations during the emergency response to the investigations and cleanup.
February
FEB. 3
The train was on its way from Madison, Ill., to Conway, Pa., when, around 9 p.m., 38 of its 150 cars derailed in East Palestine, a village of 4,700 residents about 50 miles northwest of Pittsburgh. A fire ensued, damaging an additional 12 cars. Shortly after the derailment, 1,500 to 2,000 residents were told to evacuate.
FEB. 6
Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio and Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania expanded the evacuation zone to a one-mile-by-two-mile area around East Palestine, on both sides of the line between the two states.
Uncovering the ‘covid’ fraud, part 11 | added March 16
Read more at Antiviral Substack by Mike Stone
I finally awoke to the dangers of vaccination around the middle of 2014. It was a long, drawn-out process that had initially started a few years prior due to a friend’s Facebook post that I had come across. I remember reading about the toxic ingredients contained within these injections along with the potential adverse reactions and thinking to myself that this was interesting, but for some reason, I ultimately brushed it aside.
Fortunately, the information was powerful enough to stick with me and, unknowingly at the time, had started the process of breaking apart the chains keeping me attached to this lie. While the post had piqued my curiosity, it didn’t fully awaken me to the deadly game of Russian roulette I was playing with myself and my loved ones. My wake-up call to the dangers of this toxic practice came after a year of allowing these poisonous injections into my son.
I remember feeling devastated after his first set of shots, and I’m uncertain why I did not stop right then and there. Watching the tears immediately stream down his face and hearing my baby boy scream in agony was heart-wrenching. Taking a part in what I can only see now as torture and abuse had stirred some doubt inside of me, but not enough to stop participating. My job was to be my sons protector and instead of doing so, I was allowing these people to puncture his skin and cause him harm with their piercing needles filled with remnants of poisonous cell cultured soup.
FDA says EUA of Pfizer’s ‘covid’ Paxlovid pill to stay for high-risk adolescents | added March 16
Read more at U.S. News
The U.S. health regulator said on Thursday the current emergency use authorization (EUA) for Pfizer’s covid-19 antiviral pill for high-risk adolescents will continue to remain in effect even if it receives full approval for use in some adults.
Paxlovid has been authorized for emergency use in mild-to-moderate covid patients aged 12 years and older since late 2021, but Pfizer’s application for full approval only covers high-risk adults.The Food and Drug Administration, in a presentation released ahead of its advisers’ meeting, said the discussion will not focus on Paxlovid’s use in children as drug development for the population group is ongoing.
“Should this new drug application be approved, FDA anticipates that the EUA for Paxlovid will remain in effect to continue authorizing treatment of adolescents with mild-(to-)moderate covid-19 and further address other access needs,” the regulator added. A full approval would provide doctors more flexibility in prescribing the drug and also allow the company to expand its advertising campaign.
FDA approves fourth ‘covid’ jab for infants and children under 5 years-old | added March 16
Read more at The Defender
Infants and children 6 months through age 4 who received the three-dose primary series of the Pfizer-BioNTech covid-19 vaccine are now eligible for a fourth dose — Pfizer’s bivalent booster shot. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday amended the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) of Pfizer bivalent covid-19 booster vaccine for the younger age group, but only for those children who received the three-dose series before the FDA authorized Pfizer’s bivalent omicron booster as the third shot in the primary series.
Under the amended authorization, children can receive their fourth shot two months after completing the three-dose primary series. Peter Marks, M.D., Ph.D., director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said the authorization gave parents the opportunity to “update their children’s protection.”
But critics including Peter McCullough, M.D., MPH, an internist and cardiologist, said the shots pose long-term safety concerns for children. “I am greatly concerned about the long-term safety of accumulating novel mRNA and Wuhan spike protein in previously healthy children,” McCullough told The Defender. “Continued shots are not natural and cannot make their bodies healthier.”
Ohio sues Norfolk Southern over hazardous chemical train explosion and environmental damage | added March 15
Read more at AP News
Ohio filed a lawsuit against railroad Norfolk Southern to make sure it pays for the cleanup and environmental damage caused by a fiery train derailment on the Ohio-Pennsylvania border last month, the state’s attorney general said Tuesday.
The federal lawsuit also seeks to force the company to pay for groundwater and soil monitoring in the years ahead and economic losses in the village of East Palestine and surrounding areas, said Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost. “The fallout from this highly preventable accident is going to reverberate throughout Ohio for many years to come,” Yost said.
No one was hurt in the Feb. 3 derailment, but half of the roughly 5,000 residents of East Palestine had to evacuate for days when responders intentionally burned toxic chemicals in some of the derailed cars to prevent an uncontrolled explosion, leaving residents with lingering health concerns. Government officials say tests over the past month haven’t found dangerous levels of chemicals in the air or water in the area.
EPA snow day: Soil sampling delayed due to snow cover | added March 15
Editor’s Note: How does the EPA get a snow day from testing soil after such a hazardous explosion? Why not test the snow as it falls? Acid rain falls, according to the EPA’s own website. — mmd
Read more at EPA.GOV
Due to snow cover, today’s soil sampling efforts were delayed. Tomorrow, EPA and Norfolk Southern plan to resume sampling at agricultural, residential, commercial, and recreational properties in both Ohio and Pennsylvania. EPA has highlighted what community members can expect to see during the sampling process on our Facebook and Twitter accounts.
Pennsylvania hearing focuses on the decision to vent and burn derailed train carrying hazardous chemicals | added March 15
Read more at WKBN 27
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio (WKBN) – The Pennsylvania House Democratic and Republican Policy Committees held a joint hearing Tuesday on the impact of the Norfolk Southern train derailment. The hearing was hosted by Reps. Rob Matzie (D-Beaver) and Jim Marshall (R-Beaver). They met with local officials and representatives from the Shapiro administration to discuss the impacts the train derailment on the Ohio border is having on Pennsylvania residents in Beaver County.
The first to testify was PEMA Director Randy Padfield who said that in the initial response, many decisions were made by officials in Ohio but that information was exchanged freely. Padfield said that the controlled vent and burn was concerning and that many residents and elected officials want more answers about that decision.
“We don’t have all the answers, but the picture is clearer. There is still much to do. We will ensure the safety of residents,” Padfield said. Padfield said that rail companies have the latitude to do what they need to do and that Norfolk officials have said that they thought they were making the decision to vent burn as part of a “unified command” situation, but Padfield said Pennsylvania did not have a “seat at that table.”
Residents express continued concern over dioxins after East Palestine train explosion | added March 15
Read more at State Impact Pennsylvania
From a window in her house, Tamara Freeze stood and watched a fire spreading along a line of train cars across the street from her house in East Palestine, Ohio. It was a Friday night, February 3, and she’d just gotten home from work, at the Family Dollar in the middle of town.
“It was almost like if you pass by a really, really bad accident or like a big tanker that spilled in the middle of the freeway,” she said. “You don’t want to watch, but you can’t help but watch.”
She and her husband, Nelson, were mainly worried about casualties from the derailment–luckily there were no injuries. They weren’t thinking about what was in some of those tank cars. Nelson heard that night they were carrying ‘vinyl flooring’ – that didn’t seem so bad. “Vinyl flooring…I’ve seen it burn,” he said. “That gives off black smoke. But then I heard it was vinyl chloride. And then I said, ‘Oh, no, that is not good.’”
East Palestine Fire Department issues warning over CDC and Norfolk Southern impersonators handing out activated charcoal | added March 15
Read more at WTAE
The East Palestine Fire Department is issuing a warning about a scam targeting people impacted by the train derailment.
In a Facebook post, the department says they have been told that people are going door-to-door in the one-mile evacuation zone and handing-out a letter and book.
Authorities said the scammers are impersonating the CDC and Norfolk Southern, telling people they were handing out activated charcoal, but have run low on stock. The department says if you come in contact with these people, call police.
You are also asked not to accept any of the charcoal samples. If you are given samples turn them into the police department.
Over 100 groups demand EPA testing for dioxins near derailed train site | added March 15
Editor’s Note: Based on coordinates of the train derailment at 40.8360°N 80.5227°W, the entire surrounding area must be tested efficiently especially considering the number of homes and businesses in the area. Planet Waves has also recommended testing procedures. — mmd
Read more at Common Dreams
While welcoming a federal order that Norfolk Southern test for dioxins near a derailed train that was carrying hazardous materials through East Palestine, Ohio, over 100 groups on Monday shared “recommendations on how this testing should be conducted to improve transparency, rebuild public trust, and comprehensively address possible releases.”
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) told the rail company to develop a plan to test for dioxins—carcinogenic chemical compounds that persist in the environment and human body and are tied to developmental, reproductive, and immune system problems—only after nearly a month of pressure from residents across Ohio and Pennsylvania.
River Valley Organizing (RVO), Toxic-Free Future, and other organizations signed the letter sent on Monday to agency leaders including EPA Administrator Michael Regan—which states that “to date, Norfolk Southern has done an extremely poor job of building trust with the community of East Palestine and other communities impacted by the disaster.”
Three East Palestine manufacturers sue Norfolk Souther Railroad over chemical contamination and physical symptoms of exposure | added March 15
Read more at WFMJ
Three East Palestine manufacturers have joined the myriad of businesses and residents filing negligence suits against Norfolk Southern Railroad over the February 3 derailment and subsequent controlled burn of chemicals in tank cars.
The complaint filed in U.S. District Court says that the derailment occurred adjacent to the East Taggart Street property where ceramic refractory CeramFab has a plant. Also named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit are CeramFab’s sister companies, CeramSource and WYG Refractories, which share an address less than a mile west of the derailment site.
The lawsuit filed by Alabama Attorney Jon Conlin states that since the derailment, none of the company’s employees have been able to report for work due to what Conlin characterizes as “chemical contamination, physical symptoms of exposure, and noxious odor that persists within the facility.” CeramFab says both of its production lines have now been fully shuttered, and all work on four new production lines has been forced to stop.
East Palestine residents develop rashes, sore throats, nausea and headaches after chemical train explosion | added March 15
Read more at CNN
[Feb. 17, 2023] Some residents of East Palestine, Ohio, say they have developed rashes, sore throats, nausea and headaches after returning to their homes this week, and they’re worried these new symptoms are related to chemicals released after a train derailment two weeks ago.The February 3 incident caused a massive fire and prompted officials to evacuate hundreds of people who lived near the site because of fears that a hazardous, highly flammable material might ignite. To prevent a potentially deadly explosion, toxic vinyl chloride gas was vented and burned, releasing a plume of black smoke over the town for days.
Other chemicals of concern at the site include phosgene and hydrogen chloride, which are released when vinyl chloride breaks down; butyl acrylate; ethylene glycol monobutyl ether acetate; and 2-ethylhexyl acrylate, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency. All these chemicals can change when they break down or react with other things in the environment, creating a stew of potential toxins.
Three managers at a senior living company charged in connection with 14 ‘covid’ deaths | added March 15
Read more at NBC News
A senior living company and three of its managers were charged in connection with 14 covid-19-related deaths Tuesday by Los Angeles County prosecutors. The investigation into Silverado Beverly Place began after the facility reported the April 20, 2020, death of a 32-year-old employee, Brittany Ringo, according to the county’s top prosecutor.
The center was closed in March 2020 to visitors by Irvine-based Silverado Senior Living Management Inc. in keeping with protocol at the time, but an exception was made to admit a patient from New York, the district attorney’s office said. “Ms. Ringo died from covid-19 after being exposed while working as a licensed vocational nurse for Silverado when she was directed on March 19, 2020, to admit this new resident who came directly to the facility from the airport,” LA County District Attorney George Gascón said at a news conference Tuesday.
“This individual had just arrived from a clinical setting in New York — a covid-19 hot-spot at the time.” The district attorney said the new resident, who began displaying covid-19 symptoms the morning after arriving and tested positive that evening, had not immediately been tested for covid-19 and had not been required to quarantine in isolation prior to admission as required by health protocols in place at the time, according to the district attorney.
NDP campaigners laugh off ‘covid’ vax injuries | added Mar. 15
Watch on Mark Crispin Miller Substack
A mother who lost a son due to vaccine injuries speaks to Rachel Notley’s campaign team about freedom and injustice.
Road rage Wednesday | added March 15
Watch the video on YouTube
Just breathe…
Oklahoma Governor Sitt blocks toxic waste arriving from East Palestine train explosion | added March 14
Read more at News 4
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – There won’t be any toxic waste from the East Palestine train derailment brought into the state after Governor Stitt turned away Norfolk Southern’s shipment. For weeks, the country has watched as East Palestine, Ohio, dealt with a train derailment that turned into an environmental disaster.
Norfolk Southern is the company responsible for the cleanup in East Palestine. In a statement, an EPA spokesperson said Norfolk Southern is contracted with Lone Mountain Landfill Facility, located in Waynoka and operated by Clean Harbors, and is able to accept the waste. “EPA has safeguards in place to ensure communities are protected every step of the way,” said Maria Michalos, EPA spokesperson.
Saturday afternoon, the Governor received an email from the EPA informing him of Norfolk Southern’s intentions to ship waste to the Lone Mountain facility. By Sunday, Governor Stitt stopped the idea in its tracks. “There are too many unanswered questions and ultimately I made the decision that this is not in the best interest of Oklahomans,” tweeted Stitt. He wasn’t alone. Senator James Lankford also tweeted his support for the Governor.
Live stream 1 pm: Impact of Norfolk Southern train derailment | added March 14
Watch on Pagoppoplicy
On Tuesday, March 14, the committees will meet in Darlington with local officials and representatives from the Shapiro administration to discuss the impacts the train derailment on the Ohio border is having on Pennsylvania residents. It will feature testimony from the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, Pa. Department of Health and the Pa. Department of Environmental Protection, as well as a Beaver County Commissioner and the Darlington Township Supervisor.
The hearing will be hosted by Reps. Rob Matzie (D-Beaver) and Jim Marshall (R-Beaver) at the Darlington Fire Company, 3590 Darlington Rd., Darlington, Pa. at 1 p.m. This hearing is open to both the media and the public and will be livestreamed at pagoppolicy.com.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost to hold virtual news conference 2 pm today | added March 14
Read more at WKBN 27
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WKBN) – Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost will lay out the next steps “toward accountability for Norfolk Southern” regarding the Feb. 3 train derailment in East Palestine.
Yost is holding a virtual news conference at 2 p.m. today.
Health services alerts local gardeners not to eat food after chemical release near Martinez Refinery | added March 14
Read more at FOX KTVU
MARTINEZ, Calif. – Contra Costa Health Services is advising local gardeners not to eat any foods they grow if their soil was impacted by a chemical release near the Martinez Refinery. The health department released the safety advice on Tuesday, more than three months after flaring at the Martinez Refining Company on Pacheco Boulevard sent roughly 20 tons of spent catalyst into the air.
The white powder covered neighborhoods at least one mile away from the refinery. Spent catalyst is a power dust used in the oil refining process, according to Dr. Ori Tzvieli, Public Health Director for Contra Costa Health Services. “The substances of concern that we found in the spent catalyst were heavy metals,” he said. “When you eat something that’s incorporated with heavy metals there can be significant health effects, but they’re not immediate.
They’re the sort of thing that builds up in your body over repeated ingestion.” It’s why the agency is advising local gardeners not to eat any food grown in soil that may have been exposed to the white powder. “Go ahead and plant, but don’t yet harvest and eat or ingest that were exposed to the spent catalyst until we have those results back or if you don’t want to worry about it, bring in some fresh soil and plant in that,” Tzvieli said.
EPA to hold ‘Community Resources Open House’ at East Palestine school gym | added March 14
Read more at EPA
EPA will hold a Community Resource Open House on March 16, 2023, from 6-8 p.m. at the East Palestine school gym (360 West Grant Street). This will be an opportunity for residents to talk face-to-face and ask questions to representatives of responding agencies. Residents will also have the opportunity to learn more about the scientific equipment that EPA uses to monitor the quality of the air.
At the same time, Beaver County, along with the Pennsylvania Departments of Agriculture, Environmental Protection, and Health and the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) of the CDC, the Environmental Protection Agency, Norfolk Southern, and State Representative Jim Marshall will host a Community Resource Open House for Pennsylvania residents. That open house will take place at Darlington Township Volunteer Fire Department (3590 Darlington Road, Darlington, Penn.).
EPA and Norfolk Southern contractors continue to take soil samples at agricultural, residential, commercial, and recreational properties in both Ohio and Pennsylvania. This soil sampling effort will help identify if contaminants, including SVOCs and dioxins, are present and may have been caused by the train derailment. EPA and Norfolk Southern contractors have collected 62 soil samples. Contaminated waste from the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine is being shipped to appropriate disposal facilities. Contaminated soil is currently being moved offsite and contaminated liquid continues to move quickly.
Scientists say mushrooms could be safer and cheaper solution to cleaning East Palestine chemical waste | added March 14
Read more at FOX News
Mushrooms could be a safer — and cheaper — solution to cleaning up the chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio, and could carve a new response plan for future toxic waste incidents, according to a fungi expert. “This will happen again,” Tradd Cotter, a microbiologist and mushroom expert, told Fox News. “If we could in Ohio do some testing and give mushrooms a chance to prove that this could work, it would benefit towns across the world because this happens everywhere and we need good science.”
On Feb. 3, about 50 cars on a freight train derailed in the 4,700-person Ohio town. A number of the cars contained and released hazardous material, including the colorless toxic gas vinyl chloride. Residents were initially evacuated until workers burned the chemicals to prevent an explosion. Over about 1.8 million gallons of wastewater and 700 tons of contaminated soil have been removed from the location.
Ohio Sens. Sherrod Brown and JD Vance sent a letter to federal and state environmental agencies last month warning of the dangers of dioxins that may have been created by the vinyl chloride burning, which can cause cancer and various other health problems if exposed. Cotter, who published the book “Organic Mushroom Farming and “Mycoremediation,” recommended a process called “mycoremediation” to clean up polluted water and soil at the spill site rather than moving toxins to another location. He said the process is both safer and more cost-effective than moving contaminated material.
Pennsylvania senator hospitalized after visiting East Palestine train derailment site | added March 14
Read more at Penn Live
A 39-year-old state senator from Montgomery County was hospitalized overnight after falling ill while returning from a Thursday committee hearing on the toxic train disaster that occurred in East Palestine, Ohio. As of early Friday afternoon, Democratic Sen. Katie Muth was still a patient in UPMC Somerset Hospital but said she expected to be released later in the day.
Muth, who admitted feeling tired on Friday afternoon from not getting any sleep from all the tests and scans she underwent, said she was cleared of any serious medical problem but was told her potassium levels were low. The senator said she had experienced a headache on Wednesday while she was in Beaver County, located near the site of the train derailment, and didn’t feel well during the hearing but “I sucked it up.”
Then when driving back from the hearing, she stopped at a rest area along the Pennsylvania Turnpike and said she felt like she was in fog and lightheaded. “I felt really slowed down. It was really weird,” Muth said. Her mom died at age 38 in 1995 from a brain aneurysm. Muth also said she has had covid-19 twice. Given how she was feeling and with that health history, she was concerned about getting back behind the wheel. She called her husband who called for an ambulance to transport her to the hospital.
Mercury toxicity with Dr. Damian Wojcik | added March 14
Watch on Dr. Sam Bailey
Medicine and clinical research in metal detoxification. After suffering from mercury toxicity himself, Damian has worked hard to help others with the same predicament.
Here is what he said about:
Symptoms and tests for mercury toxicity
Treatments for mercury toxicity
Fish and mercury
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his own research findings
and much more!
East Palestine, Ohio residents unable to sell homes in wake of hazardous train explosion | added March 14
Listen on NPR
The Norfolk Southern train derailment and the release of toxic chemicals that followed has hurt the housing market in East Palestine, Ohio.
East Palestine family finds temporary home in Kentucky due to health concerns: “We were sitting ducks” | added March 14
Read more at Cincinnati Enquirer
When a grease fire damaged her Newport apartment and ruined almost everything she owned, Jessica Helpy took her two sons and started over. She found comfort moving to a familiar place: Her hometown, East Palestine, Ohio.
She and her family were among hundreds of victims in the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern train derailment. The train, traveling from Madison, Illinois, to Conway, Pennsylvania, derailed when it passed through East Palestine, an Ohio village of less than 5,000 residents near the Pennsylvania border. An overheated wheel bearing caused a dangerous derailment that spilled more than 100,000 gallons of toxic chemicals into the air and a fire burst into flames that night.
Since her East Palestine home is within a mile from the derailment site, Helpy received a text message on the night of Feb. 3 recommending that she evacuate. She decided to go. She gathered her teenage sons and rented a hotel for the night 11 miles away in North Lima, Ohio. Having just paid monthly bills two days earlier, however, she was starting to feel financial pressure mount due to the unplanned disruption. “We were sitting ducks,” she said.
East Palestine: Aches, rashes and trauma continue after toxic train explosion | added March 14
Read more at AP News
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio (AP) — Heather Bable speaks rapidly, recalling the terror of the night when a train loaded with hazardous chemicals derailed less than a half-mile from her home in East Palestine, Ohio. She heard an earthshaking boom and, from her bathroom window, “all you saw was the flames.”
Mind racing, she thought of the nearby filling station — its gasoline pumps, its diesel and propane tanks. “I kind of kept myself under control, told my kids, ‘OK, guys, we have to leave,’” Bable says. “… The only thing I knew was I had to get my kids to safety. Take just the necessary things and get out of there.”
Her voice catches, tears welling in weary eyes, as she describes the physical and emotional toll following the Feb. 3 disaster and subsequent chemical burn: eight days in a hotel and an uneasy return home; hoarseness, congestion, nausea and itchy rashes; inconclusive doctor visits; the “god-awful smell” that disturbs her at night; anger at train company Norfolk Southern over the crash and government agencies she thinks responded too slowly.
Former CDC director states he has “no doubt” Fauci likely founded ‘covid’ with gain-of-research | added March 14
Read more at The Defender
Dr. Robert Redfield, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), on Wednesday said he has “no doubt” the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Dr. Anthony Fauci funded gain-of-function research that likely resulted in the creation of covid-19 and its subsequent leak.
Redfield made the statement during the first formal hearing of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. The hearing included testimony related to the lab leak theory as a plausible explanation as the origin of covid-19 and how the theory was shut down early in the pandemic in favor of narratives that covid-19 had zoogenic — or natural — origins.
Committee members and witnesses also debated the future of gain-of-function research. Other witnesses Wednesday included: Jamie Metzl, Ph.D., J.D., senior fellow at the Atlantic Council; Nicholas Wade, former New York Times science editor and former deputy editor of Nature; and Paul G. Auwaerter, M.D., MBA, clinical director in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
Tennis star Novak Djokovic pushes against mandatory U.S. ‘covid’ drugs in order to enter country | added March 14
Read more at The New York Times
Late last month, Novak Djokovic and the tight group of managers and coaches who help run the life of the world’s best male tennis player realized they had a problem. Djokovic had recovered from the hamstring tear he suffered in January, just ahead of the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam event of the year. He won the tournament, of course, but with his injury healed he was ready to return to the ATP Tour.
The next two important tournaments were in the United States, which does not allow foreigners who have not been vaccinated against covid-19 into the country. The rule, which even some staunchly pro-vaccine experts say is obsolete, has been in effect since late 2021. It includes certain exemptions, but it wasn’t exactly clear how Djokovic, who is unvaccinated against covid-19 and has long said that vaccination should be an individual’s choice, might qualify for a waiver.
He desperately wanted to play, and so began a flurry of phone calls and lobbying of people Djokovic and his team knew who might have connections to the Biden administration, including Billie Jean King, one of the game’s greats. The process, for now, has proved unsuccessful, but it is likely to continue in the coming weeks as the tennis tour shifts from the BNP Paribas Open, which begins this week in Indian Wells, Calif., to the Miami Open, which starts later this month.
Poor sleep the night before getting ‘covid’ jab affects immune response, especially for men | added March 14
Read more at CNN
If you’re scheduling an appointment for a vaccination — whether for covid-19, the flu or for travel to another country — make sure you’re getting a long, restful night’s slumber before you head to the doctor. Sleeping less than six hours the night before you get the shot may limit your body’s response to the vaccine, reducing protection against the virus or bacteria, according to a new study.
“Good sleep not only amplifies but may also extend the duration of protection of the vaccine,” said senior author Eve Van Cauter, professor emeritus at the University of Chicago’s Department of Medicine, in a statement. But there was one odd detail in the study’s findings: The impact of poor sleep on immune response to a vaccine was only scientifically relevant in men.
“Research that used objective measures of sleep deprivation, such as that of a sleep lab, found a decrease in the ability to respond to the vaccine that was particularly and statistically significant in males, but not females,” said study coauthor Dr. Michael Irwin, distinguished professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the UCLA Geffen School of Medicine. Why would a man’s immunity be affected when a woman’s was not?
New PWFM is ready: E. Palestine, a new conversation with Zsuzsa Gyenes and a visit to the senate hearing with Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw | added March 11
Read more at Planet Waves FM from Chiron Return
The new program is ready. That’s the link!
So is the video introduction to Pluto in a Strange Land. Get a fantastic video astrology reading while supporting your favorite investigative team and radio program!
Lots of reading options here. More fun and more informative than therapy. And a heck of a lot cheaper. Thanks for checking out my astrology work, which is created to the same standard of integrity as my news reporting.
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What’s really happening in East Palestine: People are getting sick and pets are dying, according to residents | added March 11
Watch the video on YouTube
We went down to East Palestine for a week to get residents’ side of the story after the Ohio rail disaster. People told us they’re getting sick and their pets are dying, while Norfolk Southern is trying to cover it up.
Norfolk Southern hired firms to conduct safety testing after chemical explosions, experts say they lack credibility | added March 11
Read more at The Guardian
Last month, Brenda Foster stood on the railroad tracks at the edge of her yard in East Palestine, Ohio and watched a smoky inferno billow from the wreckage of a derailed train. The chemicals it was carrying – and the fire that consumed them – were so toxic that the entire area had to evacuate. Foster packed up her 87-year-old mother and they fled to stay with relatives. With a headache, sore throat, burning eyes and a cough, Foster returned home five days later – as soon as authorities allowed. So when she saw on TV that there was a hotline for residents with health concerns, she dialed as soon as the number popped up on the screen.
The people who arrived offered to test the air inside her home for free. She was so eager to learn the results, she didn’t look closely at the paper they asked her to sign. Within minutes of taking measurements with a hand-held machine, one of them told her they hadn’t detected any harmful chemicals. Foster moved her mother back the same day.
What she didn’t realize is that the page of test results that put her mind at ease didn’t come from the government or an independent watchdog. CTEH, the contractor that provided them, was hired by Norfolk Southern, the operator of the freight train that derailed. And, according to several independent experts consulted by ProPublica in collaboration with the Guardian, the air testing results did not prove their homes were truly safe.
East Palestine businesses struggle in wake of toxic train explosion | added March 11
Read more at News Nation
Nate Velez, owner of Velez Engines in East Palestine, hasn’t had one customer since Feb. 3. That’s the day 50 train cars, 10 of them carrying hazardous materials, derailed in the small village on the border of Ohio and Pennsylvania. No one was injured in the derailment, but three days after it happened, authorities burned the vinyl chloride found inside five tanker cars. Since then, residents have reported animals dying, health concerns, and even an odor in the village.
Take a walk down Market Street in East Palestine, and you’ll see in most windows signs of solidarity — and signs apologizing for new store hours. Some business owners like Velez are officially in the red. “If anyone sees East Palestine, they’re like ‘Oh, crap,” and then as soon as I say where my shop is (they’re) like ‘Oh, crap,” Velez said. That’s because his shop is right behind the site where the trains derailed. Sulfur Run, a creek people have concerns about, is right by Velez Engines.
“Everyone knows most of the contaminants are in that water, and it’s connected to that hole,” he said. To get by, Velez has had to sell some of his items, but even that has become difficult. Someone messaged him, asking if his dirt bike has any vinyl chloride. Another guy, “trolling” Velez, asked how many chemicals were on the paint of a truck he was selling. A GoFundMe page has been set up for Velez to help him during this tough financial time.
Beaver County families: “We’re afraid to drink the water” | added March 11
Read more at Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Nights have been long for Sharon Laderer ever since a fiery Norfolk Southern train derailment spilled thousands of gallons of toxic chemicals near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border last month. The incident unfolded nine miles from her home in Chippewa. Her daughter and three young grandchildren live in Darlington, just a few miles away from the derailment site in East Palestine, Ohio.
“I’m so obsessed and worked up over the whole thing,” she said. “I’m losing sleep over it.” Mrs. Laderer has been wrestling with unknowns about the long-term health effects and her grandsons’ future at a home they recently moved into. But she, along with other Beaver County residents, have also been burdened by immediate stress over the most basic of resources: water. More particularly, well water.
“That’s what everybody’s worried about,” Mrs. Laderer said. “What’s going to happen? What the long term effects are going to be with the water? My well is not deep.” Beaver County residents impacted by the derailment, many of whom rely on private wells as their primary water source, have been seeking out well water testing for contaminants. And it’s not been without a fight.
East Palestine residents frustrated with Norfolk Southern’s CEO testimony: “Sorry isn’t paying my rent” | added March 11
Read more at WKBN 27
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio (WKBN) — After Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw testified Thursday in a Senate hearing in Washington, D.C, East Palestine residents and business owners are expressing continued frustration with the response surrounding the derailment.
Jessie Wince owns Cuttin’ Loose Family Hair on East Taggart Street, close to the derailment. She says she has some frustrations surrounding the derailment and has some thoughts on the apology Shaw made during the Thursday hearing. “‘Sorry’ isn’t getting my kids groceries, ‘sorry’ isn’t paying my rent down here, ‘sorry’ isn’t getting customers to come back in here,” Wince said.
Wince expressed frustration, saying she’d like to see more help from both the railroad and federal government for business owners. “We wouldn’t be in this situation if it wasn’t for a derailed toxic train in front of my business,” she said. She has young kids in East Palestine Preschool and she’s five months pregnant. Wince worries for her own safety and her kids’ safety, too. “Do I feel safe? Not necessarily. But this is my income,” she said.
EPA admits dioxin concerns after East Palestine chemical train explosion | added March 11
Read more at NBC News
When the Environmental Protection Agency last week ordered testing for dioxins after the recent train derailment and fire in East Palestine, Ohio, it acknowledged that residents could be facing a familiar and infamous foe from its past.
Contamination by dioxins — toxic chemicals known to cause cancer, disrupt the immune system and cause reproductive harms — have been at the center of notorious environmental cleanups from Times Beach, Missouri to Love Canal, New York to “Mount Dioxin” in Pensacola, Florida.
Dioxins don’t break down easily. Once in the food chain, the compounds tend to accumulate in people and animals. In key ways, the smoke-belching fire in East Palestine offered the right recipe to create these compounds, experts say. “I saw that cloud up above East Palestine, and I was immediately concerned about dioxins,” said Dr. Ted Schettler, a retired physician who is the science director for the Science and Environmental Health Network, a nonprofit group. “This is exactly the circumstance where you expect dioxins to form.”
The House unanimously passes bill to require the Direction of National Intelligence to declassify ‘covid’ origins | added March 11
Read more at NPR
The House has unanimously passed a bill to require the Director of National Intelligence to declassify information regarding the origins of the covid-19 pandemic. It cleared the chamber 419-0, with 204 House Democrats joining Republicans in support of the bill. A Senate version of the measure, which was introduced by Sen. Josh Hawley, passed that chamber by unanimous consent earlier this month.
Biden told reporters he hadn’t decided yet whether he will sign the bill. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the president is committed to “get to the bottom” of the origins of covid but also wants to protect classified information.
Ohio Republican Rep. Mike Turner, the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, voiced his support of the bill during floor debate. “The American public deserves answers to every aspect of covid-19 pandemic including how this virus was created, and specifically whether it was a natural occurrence or was the result of a lab related event,” Turner said.
Legendary pro golfer Annika Sorenstam to raise funds for East Palestine, Ohio residents | added March 11
Read more at FOX News
The chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio, hit home for legendary golfer Annika Sorenstam. Mike McGee is the son of four-time PGA Tour winner Jerry McGee and the husband of LPGA Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam. McGee grew up with his sister Michelle in East Palestine, Ohio. A freight train carrying toxic chemicals derailed in the small town on Feb. 3, spurring environmental and health concerns among residents.
Mike’s ties to the area run deep. His mother is a native of the area and was a schoolteacher for 20 years. His father was a volunteer basketball coach. Jerry McGee died two years ago at age 77. Although Mike and Annika no longer live in the area, they are still connected to the community. “My mom has some friends she talks to and the world feels like it’s ending every day,” Mike said. As the community faces an uphill battle, Sorenstam and her husband are lending a helping hand. The couple created the “Annika Fore East Palestine” campaign.
According to Golf Week, the campaign is the result of a partnership with Youngstown Mahoning Valley United Way, The Way Station and businessman Ed Muransky, owner of The Muransky Companies. “What happened and continues to happen in East Palestine is a tragedy that makes everyone’s heart hurt,” Sorenstam said. “Mike’s connection to the area brings this suffering right to our doorstep. His first job in high school was at the Lake Club, and my father-in-law was the pro emeritus there after he retired from the Champions Tour.”
East Palestine residents pack into high school gym for EPA ‘resource fair’ | added March 11
Read more at Cleveland 19 News
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio (WOIO) – Dozens of East Palestine residents packed the high school gym once again on Thursday for a resource fair hosted by the EPA. “Without them, we would know nothing so I think the volunteers, the people who come into the city have really helped,” said resident, Sherri Burney. “Everyone’s afraid to drink the water.”
The EPA along with the CDC, Norfolk Southern, local health departments, and the Salvation Army were set up in the school gym. Their goal is to connect residents with resources including financial assistance, healthcare, hotel accommodations, therapy, and private air and well water testing.
“I don’t feel comfortable here and if we had kids which we don’t I wouldn’t feel comfortable having them playing outside I just want to be able to get answers to know what our future is gonna be like here,” said resident Olivia McDonagh. Kristin Battaglia said her 8-year-old son spent last night in the emergency room. She said his health problems started after the derailment.
Indiana testing of E. Palestine finds every dioxin and furan analyzed for — 10 varieties | added March 10
Read more at Planet Waves FM from Chiron Return
INDIANAPOLIS, In. — Analysis of contaminated soil originating from East Palestine by the State of Indiana has confirmed the presence of every dioxin and dibenzofuran the lab looked for. This includes tetrachlorinated dioxins (TCDD) and furans (TCDF), the most toxic chemicals known to medical science.
The contaminated soil from the Feb. 3 train derailment was transported to Indiana for disposal in a hazardous waste facility. Dioxins and furans are not only carcinogens and cancer promoters; they are also endocrine disruptors, they can cause birth defects, sterility, and endometriosis, and have been demonstrated to cause genetic damage for at least three generations.
The analysis found a total of five different dioxins and five different dibenzofurans — getting hits on every variety the lab analyzed for using a standard EPA protocol. Based on the results, the soil qualified as “safe” — for deposit in a hazardous waste landfill — without being burned to bring the levels down.
Chiron Return has published proposed testing guidelines.
‘It’s just sickening, and it keeps happening’
According to a March 8 memo prepared by the state’s Department of Environmental Management, the soil is acceptable for disposal at the Heritage Waste Landfill, a dump site for hazardous waste. The analysis was done at Pace Labs in Minneapolis.
The location from which the soil was removed was not revealed in the state’s news release or the memo with the results. There has still been no reported testing of soot taken from the point source, nor have there been any known wipe samples taken from nearby rooftops.
Health concerns rise weeks after East Palestine hazardous train wreck | added March 10
Read more at The New York Times
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — When the railroad crossing gate lowered in front of Greg Mascher’s Chevy Tahoe, his youngest granddaughter shrank down in the back seat and pulled a worn American flag blanket over her eyes. She worried that the train was going to wreck — again.
“Tell me when it’s all over, Papa,” his granddaughter, Raylix, 7, pleaded as the rail cars rumbled through — ones much like the Norfolk Southern cars that had derailed here almost three weeks earlier, resulting in a toxic spill that appeared to cause symptoms of chemical poisoning in hundreds of households. Mr. Mascher, 61, who is raising three granddaughters with his wife, Traci, had not sent them back to school since they had developed rashes, vomiting and headaches. He glanced at Raylix, still cowering under the blanket, in his rearview mirror.
“When it’s all over, huh?” he sighed, adjusting the crucifix around his neck. “Not sure anybody can tell you girls that.” Mobile health clinics and camera crews have begun to pack up and leave this town of 4,700, but for the Mascher family and their neighbors, frightening questions remain: How could they know if they had been poisoned by the spill?
Hazardous dioxins force entire towns to relocate; EPA still has no test results from East Palestine | added March 10
Read more at Yahoo News
When the Environmental Protection Agency last week ordered testing for dioxins after the recent train derailment and fire in East Palestine, Ohio, it acknowledged that residents could be facing a familiar and infamous foe from its past.
Contamination by dioxins — toxic chemicals known to cause cancer, disrupt the immune system and cause reproductive harms — have been at the center of notorious environmental cleanups from Times Beach, Missouri to Love Canal, New York to “Mount Dioxin” in Pensacola, Florida.
Dioxins don’t break down easily. Once in the food chain, the compounds tend to accumulate in people and animals. In key ways, the smoke-belching fire in East Palestine offered the right recipe to create these compounds, experts say. “I saw that cloud up above East Palestine, and I was immediately concerned about dioxins,” said Dr. Ted Schettler, a retired physician who is the science director for the Science and Environmental Health Network, a nonprofit group. “This is exactly the circumstance where you expect dioxins to form.”
West Virgina train derailment leaves three injured and polluted waterway with diesel fuel | added March 10
Read more at NPR News
SANDSTONE, W.Va. — An empty coal train hit a rockslide along tracks in West Virginia on Wednesday morning, causing a fiery derailment that injured three crewmembers, CSX Transportation said in a statement. Four locomotives and 22 empty cars derailed in Summers County near the New River, CSX said. The lead locomotive, which carried a conductor, an engineer and an engineer trainee, caught fire and the crewmembers were being evaluated and treated for non-life threatening injuries, the company said.
CSX said an unoccupied locomotive was partially in the waterway where an unknown amount of diesel fuel and oil spilled, officials said. Environmental teams were deploying containment measures. The derailment occurred in a remote area just south of Sandstone inside the New River National Park and Preserve, according to a statement from the West Virginia Emergency Management Division.
Several state agencies are monitoring the situation and said public water systems downstream have been notified and are monitoring for any potential public health impacts. No hazardous materials were being transported and there was no danger to the public, CSX said. The company said employee and community safety was a top priority as it sends teams to assess the situation and develop a recovery plan.
Norfolk Southern CEO apologizes to Congress over toxic train derailment in Ohio | added March 10
Read more at ABC News
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Tom Carper, D-Del. pointedly asked Shaw: “Yes or no: Will you commit that Norfolk Southern will be there for as long as it takes to make East Palestine, Ohio, Darlington Township in Pennsylvania, and the surrounding communities whole from this disaster?”
“I’m terribly sorry for the impact this derailment has had on the folks of that community. And yes, it’s my personal commitment that’s Norfolk Southern that we’re going to be there for as long as it takes to help East Palestine thrive and recover. That’s my personal commitment,” Shaw responded during a hearing that spanned more than three hours.
“I am determined to make this right. Norfolk Southern will claim the site safely, thoroughly and with urgency. You have my personal commitment,” he said earlier in his opening statement. On the eve of his Senate testimony, Shaw said his company was committed to improve rail safety in a Washington Post op-ed. “We are not waiting to act” while NTSB investigates what happened in East Palestine, and probing Norfolk Southern’s safety culture overall, Shaw wrote.
Norfolk Southern train derails in Alabama hours before CEO appears before Congress | added March 10
Read more at The New York Post
A Norfolk Southern train derailed in Alabama early Thursday, just hours before the embattled railway’s CEO appeared before Congress to apologize for last month’s derailment in Ohio that released gallons of toxic chemicals into the air. The latest incident took place around 6:45 a.m. in the White Plains area, the Calhoun County Emergency Management Agency said on Facebook.
According to preliminary reports, about 30 train cars derailed. Officials said there were no injuries and “no reports of leaks” of hazardous materials. Representatives of Norfolk Southern have responded to the scene in Alabama. “There is NO danger to the public,” the agency’s statement stressed.
Norfolk Southern said the train originated in Atlanta, Georgia, and was traveling westbound to Meridian, Mississippi. Thursday’s derailment in Alabama, Norfolk Southern’s fourth in just over a month, came just hours before CEO Alan Shaw was raked over the coals by Ohio’s two US senators — one Democrat and one Republican — over his company’s response to the Feb. 3 derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. The crash sparked mass evacuations and contaminated 1.1 million gallons of water and 15,000 pounds of soil in the small community.
NYC rats catch ‘covid’, according to study | added Mar. 10
Read more at CNN
The millions of Norway rats that live alongside New Yorkers are among the animals that can catch the virus that causes Covid-19, a new study says. However, reports of the virus spreading from any types of animals to humans remain rare.
Pets like cats, dogs and hamsters; zoo animals such as big cats, primates and hippos; farmed mink; and wildlife such as deer and anteaters are among the animals in which Covid-19 infections have been reported. For the study, published Thursday in the American Academy of Microbiology’s journal mBio, the researchers captured 79 rats from three sites in Brooklyn in fall 2021 and tested them for exposure to SARS-CoV-2.
“Most of the rats were trapped in city parks within Brooklyn, although some were captured near buildings outside of park boundaries,” study co-author Dr. Tom DeLiberto, SARS-CoV-2 coordinator with the US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, said in a news release. Thirteen, or 16.5%, of the 79 rats were found to have IgG or IgM antibodies against the virus, suggesting a previous infection with SARS-CoV-2.
Japan reports first ‘covid’ vax related death: “It cannot be denied” | added March 10
Read more at Japan Times
A health ministry panel said Friday that a causal link between the November death of a 42-year-old woman and the COVID-19 vaccine shot preceding it “cannot be denied” — the first acknowledgement of such a link among nearly 2,000 reports so far of deaths following COVID-19 vaccinations in Japan.
The woman received a Pfizer shot targeting the omicron variant on Nov. 5 at a mass vaccination center. She felt sick seven minutes later, and her breathing stopped after about 15 minutes. Initially suspected to be having an anaphylactic shock, a doctor at the center performed CPR and tried to administer an adrenaline shot, but could not because IV access could not be obtained, according to a report submitted to the vaccine side effects committee under the ministry’s Health Sciences Council.
The woman was taken to a hospital but died of acute heart failure an hour and 40 minutes after receiving the COVID-19 shot. A postmortem CT scan showed that she had experienced acute pulmonary edema, a sudden buildup of fluid in the lungs, the report said. The woman was obese and had high blood pressure and diabetes, the report added, noting that no autopsy was performed.
Americans want safer railroad regulations, according to new poll | added March 10
Read more at Five Thirty Eight
Last Saturday, a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed in Springfield, Ohio, taking out power for over 1,000 people and prompting authorities to issue a temporary shelter-in-place order for nearby residents. And no, this wasn’t the one that generated headlines with images of billowing clouds of smoke and toxic runoff in nearby streams. That was the other train that derailed in Ohio last month.
Saturday marked the second train disaster in as many months for Norfolk Southern, one of the largest railway companies in the U.S. This most recent crash did not involve hazardous materials, unlike the first derailment near East Palestine, Ohio, which prompted officials to order the evacuation of around a third of the town’s residents. But it has still sparked an outcry from residents, and government officials have scrambled to respond.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg visited East Palestine to tour the damage and renewed a push for stricter crew staffing rules from the Federal Railroad Administration. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee called in Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw on Thursday to testify about the disaster. And Ohio Sens. Sherrod Brown and J.D. Vance announced a joint bill beefing up railroad safety regulations and increasing maximum fines for companies that violate them.
Every lab matters.
Indiana testing finds every dioxin and furan they looked for in East Palestine soil | added March 9
Editor’s Note: There is no safe level of dioxins. These poisons are toxic to all life at any level. How is it that Indiana provides dioxin test results and none have been reported from the actual site of the toxic train explosion in East Palestine? This is absolutely unacceptable and must be addressed for the residents of East Palestine who have evacuated their homes. — mmd
Page from Indiana’s dioxin test results. See full memo here.
Read more at WRTV
INDIANAPOLIS — Gov. Eric Holcomb says third party testing of toxic waste brought to a Putnam County landfill from Ohio does not contain any harmful levels of dioxins when compared to acceptable levels established by the EPA. Holcomb ordered the testing after tons of waste arrived at the landfill near Roachdale. He also says the landfill site operator is lawfully permitted to dispose of the waste at the site.
You can read Holcomb’s full Wednesday statement below. “Pace Labs has completed and shared the full results of their third-party dioxin testing I had ordered and expedited last week. Initial samples were taken on Saturday morning, March 4, and testing began that same day at their Minneapolis laboratory.
These results indicate that the material tested does not contain any harmful levels of dioxins when compared to acceptable levels established by the EPA. Furthermore, these results demonstrate that the site operator is lawfully permitted to dispose of that material at its site. We have informed the EPA and the site operator of these testing results. We will have Pace Labs continue to test samples of any future loads that may arrive in Indiana from East Palestine to confirm that none of the material contains harmful levels of dioxins.”
Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw to apologize before Congress for toxic train explosion | added March 9
Read more at FOX News
Norfolk Southern President and CEO Alan Shaw is to apologize before Congress Thursday for the Feb. 3 East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment. “I am deeply sorry for the impact this derailment has had on the people of East Palestine and surrounding communities, and I am determined to make it right,” Shaw will say before the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, according to a copy of his prepared remarks released beforehand.
“We will clean the site safely, thoroughly, and with urgency. We are making progress every day. Working now under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recent Unilateral Administrative Order, we have submitted a long-term removal plan that will guide our comprehensive testing program for the community’s water, air, and soil,” he’s to say. “That testing is guided by science, and we will continue to share the results transparently.
The Ohio and U.S. Environmental Protection Agencies, as well as other local agencies, are continually monitoring the air and water quality in East Palestine and report that both the air and water are safe.” Shaw said to consider the financial assistance from the railroad operator so far as just a “down payment.” “Financial assistance cannot change what happened, but it is an important part of doing the right thing. To date, we have committed to reimbursements and investments of more than $20 million in total, including by helping more than 4,200 families through our Family Assistance Center located in East Palestine,” he will say.
Approximately three trains derail every day in United States | added March 9
Read more at NPR
A Norfolk Southern train derailed Saturday night in Springfield, Ohio, with 28 cars going off the rails, the company said. No one was injured. The incident came about a month after a calamitous accident in East Palestine, Ohio, where a Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous materials derailed near the small town.
Toxic chemicals leaked into the air and water, some of which were in danger of exploding, which promoted authorities to conduct a “controlled burn” and temporarily evacuate the area. The environmental recovery effort is still underway. Residents and transportation watchers have been alarmed by the Ohio derailments, but while experts say the amount of damage caused by the accident in East Palestine is unusual, two derailments in one month is not.
In fact, derailments occur far more frequently than that — but typically without such significant fallout. Still, after such a concerning incident, there has been a renewed push in the past month to tighten safety measures on the nation’s railroads. There were at least 1,164 train derailments across the country last year, according to data from the Federal Railroad Administration. That means the country is averaging roughly three derailments per day.
Officials at East Palestine train explosion say they were not initially informed of hazardous materials until hours later | added March 9
Read more at WKBN 27
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WKBN) – It took six hours for crews on the ground in East Palestine to learn what was in the train that derailed on Feb. 3, later leaking chemicals into the area. Representatives with the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) discussed the delay during a hearing before the Ohio Senate Select Committee on Rail Safety on Wednesday morning. Committee members are looking for ways to make the movement of hazardous chemicals on trains safer.
ODOT’s Deputy Director Thomas Corey said if they knew what was in the rail cars earlier, they would have been more proactive in their approach. Thirty-eight rail cars derailed, causing a fire that damaged an additional 12 cars. There were 20 total hazardous material cars — 11 of which derailed, according to the NTSB. ODOT Director Jack Marchbanks said they’ll be monitoring the health of their employees. So far, they haven’t shown any signs of illness due to the chemical exposure, but he said they will be following up.
It was the Committee on Rail Safety’s second meeting since the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine. Local Senator Michael Rulli, R-33, serves as vice chair of the committee. He spoke passionately about local residents’ concerns during the committee’s last meeting on March 1. Wednesday, he criticized the delayed information from Norfolk Southern, saying that had crews known the train cars were carrying hazardous materials, they could have better equipped themselves with the proper safety equipment.
Biden pays no visit to East Palestine; Dioxins present in East Palestine despite no testing | added March 9
Read more at Workers World
Why hasn’t President Joe Biden taken time to visit East Palestine, Ohio, following the disastrous derailment of a Norfolk Southern train there on Feb. 3? He was probably made aware that the train had been carrying vinyl chloride, among other hazardous materials. Burning vinyl chloride, as was done in East Palestine, is known to release dioxins — highly toxic chemicals that remain in the environment, especially in soil, for years.
Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency clearly understands this. The agency has been evaluating and assessing the risk of exposure to dioxins for decades and knows the danger of exposure to these carcinogenic chemicals. The EPA is very familiar with two historic U.S. environmental catastrophes — Love Canal, New York, (1970s) and Times Beach, Missouri, (1985) — where dioxin contamination forced the evacuation of entire towns.
Yet the EPA did no testing for dioxins anywhere in the vicinity of East Palestine. It is acting as if dioxin exposure is no big deal, while it clearly knows otherwise. Finally on March 2, the EPA gave in to residents’ demands and agreed to require Norfolk Southern to test for dioxins, yet the government agency did not agree to do its own independent study. According to the Feb. 18 Huffington Post, “The testing that Ohio authorities relied on to declare the municipal water in East Palestine safe to drink . . . was funded by the railroad operator itself and did not initially comply with federal standards.” Letting Norfolk Southern hire firms to test soil for dioxins is no more reliable than doing no tests at all.
East Palestine residents on toxic train explosion: “We just grabbed the baby and took off” | added March 9
Read more at The Washington Post
“I have some cognitive dissonance with the decision I made,” says Ben. “We just grabbed the baby,” says Jami. “And took off.” Their choices had to do with the creek. It meanders, from the site of the train derailment, through the heart of town. Past the copper fabrication plant and the Fraternal Order of Eagles, directly under the bakery and the mayor’s office, toward the park, where the tennis league is supposed to start at the end of the month.
Jami Cozza’s ground-floor apartment is seven paces from the creek, on the south side of the railroad tracks. Ben Ratner’s three-story house is on the north side of the tracks, uphill a bit, which means the creek, named Sulphur Run, isn’t potentially leaching hazardous chemicals into his basement, with all those bags of T-ball and soccer gear.
The air and drinking water in East Palestine are being tested routinely. The government says it’s okay to breathe, drink and bathe. But then what about those strange smells on the breeze? What about the pallets of bottled water trundling into town? “You can’t say that everything’s okay when people are getting sick,” Jami says. “You know, we’re not all imagining our lips and tongues tingling.”
Just stay away from the creek, the government says. Just come to the Environmental Protection Agency’s community welcome center, the government says, if you have questions.
The real reason EPA won’t test for dioxin | added March 9
Read more at The Guardian
The decision to release and burn five tanker cars of vinyl chloride and other chemicals at the site of a 38-car derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, just over three weeks ago unleashed a gigantic cloud full of particulates that enveloped surrounding neighborhoods and farms in Ohio and Pennsylvania. It is well documented that burning chlorinated chemicals like vinyl chloride will generate dioxins. “Dioxin” is the name given to a group of persistent, very toxic chemicals that share similar chemical structures.
The most toxic form of dioxin is 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin or TCDD. TCDD is more commonly recognized as the toxic contaminant found in Agent Orange and at Love Canal, New York and Times Beach, Missouri, both sites of two of the most tragic environmental catastrophes in US history. Dioxin is not deliberately manufactured. It is the unintended byproduct of industrial processes that use or burn chlorine. It is also produced when chemicals such as vinyl chloride are burned such as occurred in East Palestine.
The organization I work for, the Center for Health, Environment & Justice, has worked with communities affected by dioxins for over 40 years. We have seen the impact of exposure to dioxins in communities from Love Canal and Times Beach to Pensacola, Florida. And now, we are asking, why isn’t EPA testing for dioxins in East Palestine, Ohio? Are dioxins present in the soil downwind from the site of the accident?
Microplastics pass placental barriers in rats leading to impaired fetal development | added March 9
Read more at The Defender
The authors of a peer-reviewed study showing microplastics passed pregnant rats’ intestinal and placental barriers, leading to impaired fetal development, concluded the same could be true for humans. The study, published in Nanomaterials, is the first to show that microplastics fed to pregnant mammals can reach fetal tissues.
Researchers fed five pregnant rats specially marked nanoscale microplastics. Through imaging, they determined the particles permeated the placentas. They detected particles in the livers, kidneys, hearts, lungs and brains of the fetuses. The authors said what they observed in the rats could happen in humans — and given the anatomical difference between rats and humans, the placental barrier in humans “could be more permissive” and allow for “greater passage” of microplastics to the fetus.”
“Much remains unknown, but this is certainly cause for concern and follow-up study,” said Philip Demokritou, Ph.D., the study’s corresponding author and professor of nanoscience and environmental bioengineering at Rutgers University. Commenting on the study, Dr. James Thorp, a board-certified obstetrician and gynecologist, said it was a “no brainer” that microplastics would pass through the placenta into fetal issue. “It is certainly not surprising that nano-sized pieces of plastic would cross from the maternal blood through the placenta into the fetal blood circulation,” Thorp told The Defender.
Gov. Gavin Newson tests ‘covid’ positive for second time in less than a year | added March 9
Read more at CBS News
SACRAMENTO – Gov. Gavin Newsom has tested positive for covid-19 for the second time in less than a year, his office announced Wednesday night. A spokesperson from Newsom’s office told KPIX that Newsom is exhibiting “mild symptoms”, while First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom had tested negative.
The governor plans to work remotely and self-isolate in accordance with California Department of Public Health guidance. Currently, CDPH recommends isolation for at least five days after start of symptoms, regardless of vaccination status, previous infection or lack of symptoms.
According to The Sacramento Bee, Newsom had recently returned from a personal trip to Baja California, Mexico. The newspaper also reported that the governor’s upcoming tour of the state, which will take place of his usual State of the State speech, is still expected to take place March 16-19. Newsom last tested positive for covid-19 in May of 2022, following a high-profile meeting in San Francisco with then-Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern. During his previous infection, Newsom also experienced “mild symptoms” and was prescribed the antiviral drug Paxlovid.
Proposed testing protocols for dioxin-like compounds, East Palestine, Ohio | added March 8
Read more at Planet Waves FM from Chiron Return
Dear Friends and Readers:
This is my proposed testing protocol to determine the extent of contamination by dioxin and dioxin-like compounds, starting at the point source, for East Palestine, Ohio. Under this plan, sampling would start where levels are expected to be the highest, and move outward from there.
Comments welcome.
— efc
Biden says he intends to visit East Palestine despite no scheduled trip | added March 8
Read more at NBC News
WASHINGTON — With pressure mounting to visit the site of the toxic chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio, President Joe Biden said last week that, yes, he does intend to go. But there is no trip in the works. Nothing on his schedule. Nor are there any plans in motion for Biden to visit the hard-hit area any time soon, administration officials said.
Ask the White House if Biden is going and the answer gets fuzzy: “When or if the president should go is of course a question we would talk about, but I don’t think this is something we’ve been agonizing over in real-time,” a senior White House official said. More than a month into the train derailment that has threatened this village’s health and economic future on the Pennsylvania border, Biden’s absence thus far has left past and present officials mystified.
“I’m shocked that it hasn’t happened,” former Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio said. “I just don’t understand. This is not a hard one.” “It’s imperative that he shows up there and not just shed light on it [the cleanup] today but make sure the effort is sustained,” added Ryan, who ran unsuccessfully for president in 2020 and Senate in 2022. Opponents are relishing Biden’s discomfort.
Even the NYT calls for dioxin testing | added March 8
Read more at Planet Waves FM from Chiron Return
Editor’s Note — The New York Times has been horrid on the dioxin issue — going so far as to declare dioxin exposure as dangerous as a week sunbathing on vacation. While I am working on a new presentation of this landmark 1993 article telling that story by Vicky Monks, here is the old one. Malcolm Gladwell, formerly of the Washington Post, has been just as bad.
We have reviewed the EPA’s absurd proposal to have Norfolk Southern conduct the tests, issued last Thursday night. People do not understand what a brutal and rigged game dioxin testing is. In this recent Substack, I critique the EPA’s proposal to have the perpetrator gather evidence from the crime scene.
I gave my best-ever presentation on the issue of “acceptable risk,” at the top of last week’s Planet Waves FM.
Yesterday, I released my own proposal for testing and analysis for dioxins in East Palestine. The target document on that page is a PDF. Please read on a computer if you have an issue opening it on your phone.
The Norfolk-Southern derailment affects everyone. There are 125,000 farms in Ohio and Pennsylvania, many of them small family farms that supply health food stores and provide organic, grass-fed meats and dairy to customers. There are many, many more reasons that this is a global problem and not a local one.
Thanks to Ellen Connett and Will Huston for passing this article forward.
Researchers find high levels of toxic chemicals in East Palestine weeks after train derailment | added March 8
Read more at WESA
Researchers from Carnegie Mellon and Texas A&M say they detected high levels of one hazardous air pollutant in the town of East Palestine, weeks after a train derailment and chemical fire. Levels of acrolein, a chemical found in manufacturing and formed in combustion, were up to three times as high as samples taken previously in Downtown Pittsburgh.
“This is a rural area, so you would expect that the concentrations [in East Palestine] would be lower than Pittsburgh,” said Weihsueh Chiu of Texas A&M, one of the researchers on the project. The researchers said levels of other volatile chemicals they measured were normal and in line with measurements reported by the US EPA. But they said they still need to comb through the data to see if there are other chemicals that could pose a health threat.
They stayed away from assigning blame to health problems experienced by the town’s residents on acrolein or any other chemical. Residents have suffered rashes, headaches, scratchy throats and congestion in the weeks since the derailment and subsequent fire. “Because it was only a snapshot in time, we’d be hesitant to attribute particular health effects to acrolein at this time,” said Chiu. “There’s a lot of other things that could be could be going on, and we don’t have a clear sense as to how much variation day to day there is.”
Federal investigators open probe into nation’s rail industry safety protocols since 2014 | added March 8
Read more at GPB News
Federal investigators are opening a wide-ranging investigation into one of the nation’s biggest railroads following a fiery derailment on the Ohio-Pennsylvania border last month and several other accidents involving Norfolk Southern, including the death of a train conductor Tuesday.
The National Transportation Safety Board said on Tuesday it will begin a broad look at the company’s safety culture — the first such investigation within the rail industry since 2014. The board said it has sent investigation teams to look into five significant accidents involving Norfolk Southern since December 2021.
The agency also urged the company to take immediate action to review and assess its safety practices. The Federal Railroad Administration also announced its own investigation of Norfolk Southern on Tuesday. The administration will issue a public report after conducting a 60-day safety assessment, according to a release from the U.S. Department of Transportation. In the release, the railroad administration said Norfolk Southern must go beyond the steps it announced Monday and take actions “that match the severity of recent incidents.”
What it’s like to live 4 miles downwind from East Palestine: acrid smells and smoke debris | added March 8
Read more at Slate
If the Norfolk Southern train that derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, last month had slid off the tracks seven minutes later, it would have been on Dave Anderson’s farm. Echo Valley Farm, where Anderson lives with his wife and six of their children, is in Pennsylvania, about 4 miles east of where the train did derail. Which means that it is also 4 miles east of where the chemical tanks on board started leaking, and 4 miles east of where clouds of smoke from the eventual controlled burn of those chemicals floated away.
On the Anderson farm, that burn meant the air was tinged with an acrid smell for over a week. “What can you be thankful for?” Anderson said on a recent phone call, of the derailment. “Well, I’m just glad it wasn’t seven minutes later.” Here is the thing about living right next-door to a chemical spill: It really doesn’t matter how safe officials promise the spilled chemicals are. It doesn’t really matter if you understand intellectually that a controlled burn is the best way to deal with the disaster.
When you are the one whose air smells different because of the train cars full of chemicals being incinerated, it feels awful and unnecessary and stupid to be anywhere near it. That feeling is amplified for Anderson, 58, who works on his farm full time these days, but was previously employed for decades as an air traffic controller. “I have a lot of experience in transportation, safety, risk management, and weather, which are all relevant to the situation in East Palestine,” he told me.
Scientists admit massive chemical spills affect surrounding ecosystems for years to come | added March 8
Read more at ABC News
Scientists will be likely monitoring the ecosystem surrounding the areas affected by a massive chemical spill in Ohio for years to come. The tens of thousands of aquatic life that have died as a result could potentially point to whether ecosystems are safe enough for human activity to persist nearby, experts tell ABC News.
A train carrying several toxic chemicals derailed in East Palestine on Feb. 3, spilling cars full of hazardous materials onto the soil surrounding the derailment. A controlled burn that occurred over the next several days then expelled even more toxic gases, prompting a mandatory evacuation for residents living within a 1-mile radius of the crash site due to the potentially deadly risks posed by inhalation in high concentrations.
Health officials immediately began testing the soil, air and land to ensure humans were safe to return. While the evacuation order was lifted on Feb. 8, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources announced on Feb. 14 that at least 3,500 aquatic animals along the Ohio River had died as a result of pollutants from the controlled burn seeping into the streams. By Feb. 23, the number of animals that had died in and around East Palestine jumped to more than 43,000. This is significant because Ohio uses the fish community as an overall indicator of water quality, Michael Booth, a research professor of fish and aquatic ecology at the University of Cincinnati, told ABC News.
Virginia Department of Environmental Quality collects public comments on 2020 Norfolk Southern train derailment in Roanoke County | added March 8
Read more at WDBJ 7 News
ROANOKE Co., Va. (WDBJ) – As cleanup continues in East Palestine, Ohio from a Norfolk Southern toxic train derailment last month, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality is collecting public comment on a Norfolk Southern train derailment in Roanoke County back in 2020.
The DEQ is proposing an enforcement action against Norfolk Southern for state and local violations. You have until this Friday to submit public comment on this order issued by the Department of Environmental Quality, which details how Norfolk Southern violated several laws and now will have to pay a fine.
A representative for DEQ declined to speak with us about the proposed enforcement action. According to the order, more than 1,300 tons of coal have since been removed from the river. There were around 2,600 hundred tons of coal in the train cars, but it’s still undetermined how many tons of coal went directly into the water. The discharge from the coal caused high levels of iron and thallium in the Roanoke River. During the last sampling event in July 2021, the DEQ said the water was free of coal particles.
Railroad workers discuss why Wall Street is to blame for unsafe rail conditions | added March 8
Watch on YouTube
What caused the Norfolk Southern train wreck in East Palestine, Ohio, and who should be held accountable? Is the issue at hand just a problem of brakes, or is there a more systemic cause behind the 1000+ train derailments each year in the US? Retired railway workers Jeff Kurtz and Mark Burrows join TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez to explain how railroad workers’ long fight for better conditions against Wall St profiteers is at the heart of this tragic story.
Two people dead and 16 injured after train derails in Cairo, Egypt | added March 8
Read more at CNN
At least two people were killed and 16 others injured after a train derailed north of Cairo on Tuesday, according to Egypt’s Health Ministry. The passenger train crashed into a train station platform in the city of Qalyub, the Ministry of Transport said in statement.
The incident occurred at 7:20p local time, according to a statement by Egyptian National Railways, after the train failed to respond to a semaphore signal, ultimately hitting a buffer stopper which caused part of the train to jump the tracks. About 20 ambulances rushed to the scene to assist the wounded.
Kamel El-Wazir, Egyptian transport minister, has ordered a committee to be formed to find out what caused the derailment and “to identify those responsible and limit the damage” the statement added. Separately, Egypt’s Ministry of Social Solidarity said in a statement released on Tuesday that the government will offer EGP 100,000 (the equivalent of about $3,254) to the families of those killed.
Only fans | added March 8
Watch the video on YouTube
Matt Rife is a twenty six year old Veteran of standup comedy. Beginning at the age of fifteen, Matt has developed an extremely unique perspective on everything from women, self awareness, race, and some of the worlds darker issues.
‘This is not enough’: East Palestine activists pressure Norfolk Southern to agree on limited relocation plan | added March 7
Read more at Common Dreams
Local organizers in East Palestine, Ohio on Monday said their activism has successfully pressured rail company Norfolk Southern to agree to a limited relocation plan for some residents affected by last month’s train derailment, but added they have no intention of backing down from their demand for justice for thousands of people in the area who are struggling in the aftermath of the accident.
The company’s plan to offer financial assistance to people who live within a one-mile radius of the crash site “is not enough,” said River Valley Organizing (RVO), which last week released a list of five demands for the people of East Palestine and the surrounding area. While calling the proposal a “win,” RVO noted people will only be able to relocate temporarily and said the disaster “has had a far-reaching impact.” ”
We’re going to keep pushing until the community gets the help it is owed,” said RVO. “We need to stop letting Norfolk Southern put their profits ahead of the people of our community.” The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which late last month ordered Norfolk Southern to take full financial responsibility for cleaning up contamination from vinyl chloride, a carcinogenic chemical the train was carrying, acknowledged Monday that residents have complained of lingering odors in the town as the company continues to remove thousands of tons of contaminated soil.
Norfolk Southern announces new six-point safety measure plan to include “hot bearing” or “hot box” detectors | added March 7
Read more at CNN
As federal investigators visit the site of another Norfolk Southern train derailment in Ohio, the company vowed new safety measures in response to its toxic train wreck that ravaged the town of East Palestine. Norfolk Southern will revamp its hot bearing detector network as part of a new six-point safety plan, the company announced Monday.
“Hot bearing” or “hot box” detectors use infrared sensors to record the temperatures of railroad bearings as trains pass by. If they sense an overheated bearing, the detectors trigger an alarm, which notifies the train crew they should stop and inspect the rail car for a potential failure. After the February 3 toxic derailment in East Palestine, investigators discovered hot bearing sensors detected a wheel bearing heating up miles before it eventually failed – but didn’t alert the train’s crew until it was too late, according to a February 23 preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board.
Currently, the average distance between detectors on the Norfolk Southern network is 13.9 miles. On Monday, the company announced it would examine every area where the distance between detectors is greater than 15 miles and would develop a plan to deploy additional detectors where needed. Norfolk Southern said other new safety measures would include: Working with manufacturers of “multi-scan” hot bearing detectors, which are able to “scan a greater cross-section of a railcar’s bearings and wheels” to accelerate development and testing.
Norfolk Southern responds to death of conductor after truck incident | added March 7
Read more at WKYC
CLEVELAND — A Norfolk Southern employee — identified as a conductor — has died following an incident in Cleveland early Tuesday morning. Norfolk Southern released the following statement to 3News shortly after 9 a.m.: Norfolk Southern Corporation stated that Louis Shuster, a Norfolk Southern conductor, was fatally injured early Tuesday morning at the Cleveland-Cliffs Cleveland Works property in Cleveland, Ohio.
At this time, officials are reporting that the conductor was struck by a dump truck as a Norfolk Southern train was moving through a crossing at the facility. Norfolk Southern has been in touch with the conductor’s family and will do all it can to support them and his colleagues. We are grieving the loss of a colleague today. Our hearts go out to his loved ones during this extremely difficult time.
The company is working with the Cleveland Police Department and Cleveland-Cliffs representatives to confirm the details and learn everything possible about the incident. Further, the company has been in contact with Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, SMART-TD union leadership, and Cleveland-Cliffs leadership. More information will be released in coordination with law enforcement as it becomes available. A spokesperson for Cleveland-Cliffs previously told 3News that a collision happened between a Norfolk Southern train and the dump truck on a Norfolk Southern rail line that runs through Cleveland-Cliffs Cleveland Works property.
Dashcam video captures latest train derailment in Springfield Township, Ohio | added March 7
Read more at FOX News
A dashcam video has captured the moment a Norfolk Southern train derailed in Springfield Township, Ohio, following the toxic disaster in East Palestine weeks earlier. Footage taken from a vehicle waiting at a Clark County railroad crossing gate on Saturday, March 4 shows two of the train’s cars suddenly rising upward as it travels along the tracks.
As one of the cars separates from the rails, it smashes into the crossing gate, sending debris flying as the driver starts to back up from the scene. Toward the end of the video, another car farther down the train can been seen coming off the tracks.
Officials said 28 of that train’s 212 cars came off the tracks, but the cars on that train carrying liquid propane and ethanol did not spill, according to The Associated Press. “A lot of the cars that were actually derailed were empty boxcars,” Norfolk Southern general manager Kraig Barner said. The video has surfaced as Norfolk Southern announced Monday the rollout of a six-point safety plan to “immediately enhance the safety of its operations” following the toxic derailment on Feb. 3 in East Palestine.
East Phillips, Minneapolis residents not convinced arsenic-polluted land is safe | added March 7
Editor’s Note: At the 10 minute mark of Democracy Now, resident Casey Holmes speaks about losing her son to a heart disease he was not born with from being at this toxic site in addition to her best friend also losing a son at a young age to a heart condition he was not born with. The correlation to ‘covid’ induced heart conditions and heart disease by toxic chemical exposure must be acknowledged by the health officials who claim to be protecting citizens. Adequate testing for environmental poisons in addition to safety regulations when handling chemicals must be mandated instead of forced experimental drugs. — mmd
Read more at Sahan Journal
When officials with the city of Minneapolis held a press conference last week to lay out their plan for the demolition of the Roof Depot building, they were adamant they could remove the warehouse without harming the surrounding community.
But residents of the East Phillips neighborhood remain skeptical that demolition of the vacant warehouse, which sits on a former superfund site that was contaminated by arsenic, would be carried out safely. A February 24 judicial order temporarily blocked the demolition of the Roof Depot warehouse, which was scheduled to begin this week, to allow the case to be heard by the Minnesota Court of Appeals.
That ruling means the nonprofit East Phillips Neighborhood Institute can continue its legal fight to preserve the building and rally more support behind its cause. No timetable for the case to be heard on appeal has been set, and it could be months before the city can begin demolition. Community members and the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute want to use the building and 7.5-acre parcel of land as an urban farm, community hub, and affordable housing. The city plans to expand its public works facility at the site, located at E. 28th Street and Longfellow Avenue.
East Palestine derailment avoidable with proper safety regulations, according to experts | added March 7
Read more at The New York Times
The rail crash in East Palestine, Ohio, has highlighted a glaring gap in federal safety regulations that has left the railroad industry to set its own standards for the use of sensors that can warn train crews about impending derailments.
As Norfolk Southern’s Train 32N traveled toward East Palestine on Feb. 3, it passed a series of detectors along the track designed to pick up overheated wheel bearings, a major cause of derailments. The temperature of a bearing on the train’s 23rd car rose before the train reached the town. But then there wasn’t another heat detector for almost 20 miles, by which time the temperature had soared to critical levels, setting off an alarm.
As the crew engaged the brakes, the bearing broke, and the car and 37 others derailed, spilling a cargo of toxic chemicals and prompting officials to authorize a controlled burn of hazardous substances. The accident has devastated East Palestine’s economy, stoked anger and anguish among its residents, and forced an examination of whether freight railways, which have grown much more profitable in recent years, have gone too far in pushing for greater efficiency at the expense of safety, staffing levels and working conditions.
No virus international | added March 7
Watch the video on Dr. Sam Bailey
People around the world are becoming more aware of the ‘no virus’ argument as the “science” of virology has been exposed. However, there is often a language barrier when it comes to reaching some countries. Many of the best-known critics of virology are in the English-speaking world and have developed strong alliances with large followings.
The good news is that the movement for truth is truly international and this video will look at some of the advancements being made in regions that are perhaps lesser known to most of our English-speaking audience.
And could the madness of covid-19 end up bringing the world closer together?
One in four parents allegedly lied about child’s ‘covid’ status, according to nationwide study | added March 7
Read more at U.S. News
Public health officials offered a lot of advice to prevent the spread of covid-19 early in the pandemic, but some parents apparently tuned it out. About 1 in 4 misled others about their child’s covid status, vaccination and related details, a nationwide survey found.
“Like everyone else, parents worried about getting sick with covid-19 or about losing their job, but parents also had to manage juggling job responsibilities while their children were home in quarantine,” said study co-author Andrea Gurmankin Levy, a professor of social sciences at Middlesex Community College in Middletown, Conn. “And it’s quite possible that some parents misrepresented their child’s covid-19 status or didn’t adhere to testing or quarantine rules in an attempt to ease some of this burden.”
The findings — published March 6 in JAMA Network Open — follow up on earlier research by the same team that concluded 4 of 10 American adults misled others about whether they had covid or adhered to public health measures. This time, researchers used information from a subset of 580 participants in the original study who reported being parents or guardians of children under 18. The participants were asked additional questions about choices they made on behalf of their kids.
The syphilis scam by Mike Stone | added March 7
Read more at Mike Stone Antiviral Substack
Syphilis is a disease that I had never given much thought about for the majority of my life. I was born at a time when syphilis was moved aside as the big bad sexually transmitted disease in order to make room for its successor to the throne in HIV. Growing up, we were never really taught much about syphilis in school or at home as it seemed to be relegated as a relic of the past.
Instead, we were bombarded by horror stories of the terrifying death that awaited anyone unlucky enough to be diagnosed with HIV. We were taught to fear blood, needles, and drug use, concepts much easier for children to grasp over sexual intercourse. Thus, when I found out that a family member of mine had been diagnosed with syphilis in the past, I didn’t know what to make of it other than it didn’t seem as terrifying to me as HIV. The news about this past diagnosis did not provoke much of a reaction in me at all.
Eventually, my relative, who had not suffered any symptoms for decades, was told to get a series of three penicillin injections in order to cure a “latent infection.” Even though we were hesitant about the use of antibiotics, we accepted the decision as we were told that, even though there were no symptoms presently, the bacteria could resctivate at any time, leading to severe neurological complications, blindness and ultimately death. It was decided that it was best for this person to finally be rid of this label that they had been burdened with for decades.
let’s NOT let this happen…
Negligible risk: premeditated murder? | added March 6
Read more at Planet Waves FM
IS PESTICIDE AND DRUG RISK ASSESSMENT sponsored by government or polluters evidence of premeditated murder?
The issue is important because of a recent Bush Administration proposal to expand “negligible risk” decision-making in federal pesticide regulation (see Journal of Pesticide Reform 9(4):20). It’s also important because every discussion about the “safety” of vaccines involves an assessment of how many people any product will kill, which is the “risk” level. Risk is not about the statistical odds of being hurt by a product. Rather, it is the predicted incidence level of injury and death among consumers, caused by a product and its maker. This pertains to all chemicals and all drugs.
Risk Assessment
First, let’s dispel a crucial myth: Pesticide “risk assessments” can never predict what the risks are to an individual. The term risk assessment implies a statistical randomness that does not exist. Risks to individuals from pesticide exposure are in reality governed by such factors as individual dose and susceptibility, factors that are not foreseeable and never equal.
The notion that all persons in a pesticide-exposed population are at equal risk may be credible for public relations purposes, but it defies common sense. When a gunman fires into a crowd, everyone in the crowd is not at equal risk: the people nearest the bullet’s trajectory are far more susceptible to injury than the person standing behind a thick tree.
Fundraiser for East Palestine resident Zsuzsa Gyenes and son | added March 6
Read more at Go Fund Me
My name is Zsuzsa Gyenes and 3 weeks ago, Friday Feb 3rd, around 9pm my 9yr old son and I were painting his Minecraft Valentine’s Day box in our living room when a train carrying toxic and highly carcinogenic chemicals explosively derailed about a mile from our home. It immediately burst into flames hundreds of ft tall, massive plumes of black choking smoke, and consequently began spewing over a million lbs of lethal gases and liquids right on top of our little town of only 4,700.
We followed local authorities orders to shelter in place but we began smelling the noxious gases in our home around 3am. This caused my son and I both to become violently ill forcing us to quickly evacuate. The situation took an even darker turn a few days later when one of the hazmat tankers destabilized leading to a massive intentional burn controlled by local government. The plume was seen on satellite radar and has become infamous for its resemblance to a mushroom cloud bomb.
Shockingly, the evacuation order was lifted only two days later and trains ran through the newly built tracks within 3 minutes. Despite our air testing safe by the railroads team, my home still has an overwhelming smell of chemicals and continues to make me terribly sick every time I try to return home. The railroad will not provide assistance after their test says the air is ok, even if you are getting sick with chemical exposure symptoms.
New plan to incinerate contaminated soil from East Palestine train explosion is ‘horrifying’ says expert | added March 6
Editor’s Note: NIH admits the effect of misunderstanding the chemical properties of environmental contamination, especially dioxins and yet residents were told it was ‘safe’ to stay in East Palestine. — mmd
Read more at The Guardian
Contaminated soil from the site around the East Palestine train wreck in Ohio is being sent to a nearby incinerator with a history of clean air violations, raising fears that the chemicals being removed from the ground will be redistributed across the region.
The new plan is “horrifying”, said Kyla Bennett, a former Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official now with the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility non-profit. She is one among a number of public health advocates and local residents who have slammed Norfolk Southern and state and federal officials over the decision. The company behind the Ohio train derailment was on a years-long, multimillion-dollar campaign to influence federal regulators. “Why on earth would you take this already dramatically overburdened community and ship this stuff a few miles away only to have it deposited right back where it came from?” Bennett asked.
Incinerating the soil is especially risky because some of the contaminants that residents and independent chemical experts fear is in the waste, like dioxins and PFAS, haven’t been tested for by the EPA, and they do not incinerate easily, or cannot be incinerated. A Norfolk Southern train carrying vinyl chloride used to produce PVC plastic derailed on 3 February in the small industrial town of 4,700 people, located at the edge of the Appalachian hills in Ohio.
Cattle farmer says calf died due to smoke inhalation from train derailment | added March 6
Read more at WKBN 27
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio (WKBN) – Test results have come back on a calf that died shortly after the train derailment in East Palestine. The Ohio Department of Agriculture found that lab tests show that a calf that died on Feb. 11 showed no outward evidence of chemical irritation or exposure, according to an update by Ohio Governor Mike DeWine.
“Although a specific cause of death could not be identified, there is nothing to support chemical toxicity as a cause of death,” the update said. The cattle farmer said through an Ohio agricultural news outlet that the calf died of smoke inhalation.
Several other animals have been tested, too, following the derailment and none have come back as having a cause of death related to the derailment and vent of vinyl chloride. There is no information to suggest that pets are not safe outside, but if you believe your domestic animal has been sickened as a result of the train derailment, please contact your local veterinarian.
Train boss tells crew to skip inspections with problem cars, according to leaked audio | added March 6
Read more at The New York Post
A leaked recording of a manager at one of the nation’s largest rail companies, reveals them telling workers to skip inspections and not report cars with the same type of problem blamed for last month’s massive train derailment in Ohio. The Norfolk Southern derailment and subsequent investigation into its cause have invited increased scrutiny into the rail industry’s safety practices.
The audio, obtained by the Guardian, hears the manager telling a former employee of Union Pacific to stop tagging railcars for broken bearings. The manager says doing so delays other cargo. A preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board into the Norfolk Southern derailment found that a wheel-bearing failure was responsible for the catastrophe. Federal regulators also previously raised concerns about rail companies cutting down on their workforce sizes, and industry leaders have repeatedly fought new safety regulations around braking systems.
Train derailments at the nation’s largest freight companies have jumped over the past decade, to two derailments for every million miles traveled in 2022, up from 1.71 derailments in 2013. The recording came to light as residents in the small town continue to raise concerns about their safety following the disaster, which saw responders conduct a controlled burn of toxic chemicals on board the derailed train cars, sending thick plumes of black smoke into the air and raising widespread concerns about the health impacts.
Heavy rain near East Palestine raises major concern as poisonous containment dam overflows | added March 6
Editor’s Note: In Woodstock, New York during the summer of 2021 the air smelled like burning plastic. Turns out, the western wildfire smoke had blown over to the East Coast. This is an example of how the elements carry these poisons. Testing for dioxins and chemicals need to be a regular occurrence like ‘covid’. “You don’t need a weather man to know which way the wind blows,” sang Bob Dylan. — mmd
Read more at WTAE Abc 7
Friday’s heavy rain sent water overflowing from a large pool of water near East Palestine’s city park, causing concern among residents and on social media in light of last month’s train derailment. Mary McCarron, a public information officer for the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, tells Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 the large pool was a containment dam that “was actually part of mitigation work surrounding the storm.”
Vacuum trucks were used to pull up the released water. McCarron said the system allows them to control the runoff in the derailment area. She also said no visible waste was released into nearby streams. The ponded water is also being tested, and the EPA says those results are expected in two to three days. A release from Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s office said that the dam near the confluence of Sulphur Run and Leslie Run “continues to work as expected.”
Thomas A. Crosson, senior director of strategic communications with Norfolk Southern, said the dam area lies a mile and a half away from the derailment site, and that the derailment site remains contained. “This water is not coming from the derailment site,” Crosson said. “We have purposely dammed this area to raise water levels to allow for aeration. In heavy rain events, those waters can rise and is not a reason for concern.”
Iceland leads excess deaths in Europe, Philippines excess mortality hits 123 percent | added March 6
Read more at Mark Crispin Miller Substack
“Excess deaths are nowhere to be found as high as in Iceland”—p. 2 of Morgunblaðið, one of Iceland’s two major daily papers. NB: The article, which ran on February 20, reports that Iceland’s rate of excess deaths is now the highest not in all the world, but of any European country.
Moreover, the impact of those excess deaths must be especially heavy in a country with so small a population. (My thanks to Gunnar Kjeld for sending me this information.) And, from Texas Lindsay, a similar report concerning excess deaths in the Philippines: Our World in Data has not updated Excess Mortality data for the Philippines since July 31, 2022. Usually when a delay this long occurs (in the Covid Era) the data in the interim isn’t flattering for the narrative.
Governments don’t want to face backlash for mandating a “vaccine” in which the data continues to show did far more harm than good. After the vaccine rollout, there were more Covid Cases, more Covid Deaths and higher Excess Mortality than all of the deaths seen in the Philippines in 2020. The data continues to show the mRNA products do not work—not just in the Philippines, but in every country that used the mRNA products) around the world—yet they continue to be pushed upon humanity despite the unknown long term health data for a new novel mRNA product.
Boulder County Public Health campaign targets Latino parents to vaccinate children ages 0-11 years old | added March 6
Read more at The Defender
A Boulder County Public Health (BCPH) campaign to persuade parents — especially Latinos — of children ages 0 to 11 to vaccinate their kids for covid-19 has some of the Colorado county’s parents up in arms. The BCPH in May 2022 hired Godot, a “creative” consulting agency, to conduct focus groups and develop the campaign.
The agency’s final report — dated October 2022 and obtained in January by local citizen’s group No Vax Mandates Colorado through numerous Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) requests — describes the agency’s findings and lays out a proposed ad campaign strategy to convince the “vaccine-hesitant” to give their small children the shot.
According to the report, “Vaccine hesitancy is not binary.” So the consultants set out to characterize people on a spectrum, from “anti-vaccine” to “vaccine champions” in order to identify those individuals who may be susceptible to “moving the needle” toward having their young children vaccinated through an effective advertising campaign. Cindy Baker, a member of No Vax Mandates Colorado for months has been trying to foster a dialogue about the project with BCPH at public meetings.
Ohio law enforcement links activist Erin Brockovich events in East Palestine to potential for “special interest terrorism” | added March 6
Read more at Yahoo News
Ohio law enforcement issued a report late last month warning that events planned in East Palestine by the environmental activist Erin Brockovich could prompt a terrorist threat from violent extremists, according to an intelligence bulletin obtained by Yahoo News.
Dated Feb. 24 and distributed to law enforcement agencies by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Ohio Statewide Terrorism Analysis & Crime Center Terrorism Analysis Unit Situational Awareness [STACC TAU] report obtained by Yahoo News “assesses that special interest extremist groups will continue to call for changes in governmental policy, which may lead to protests in/around East Palestine and/or at the Statehouse in Columbus.”
The report then singles out the reaction by Brockovich, a whistleblower who helped build a successful lawsuit against the California utility company Pacific Gas and Electric in a case involving contaminated groundwater, to the Feb. 3 train derailment and release of toxic chemicals in East Palestine. “On 24 February, environmental activist Erin Brockovich is scheduled to be in East Palestine to explain residents’ legal rights. Brokovich has urged the community to use common sense and ask questions. Brockovich is also placing blame solely on Norfolk Southern.The STACC TAU assess this event could potentially increase tensions within the community.”
Overtime: Sen. Bernie Sanders, Russell Brand, John Heilemann join Bill Maher | added March 6
Watch the video on YouTube
Sanders admits ‘covid’ degregated mental health of youth, Maher says aliens are possible…
Update for East Palestine and surroundings re the EPA’S proposed plan for dioxin testing | added March 5
Read more at Planet Waves FM from Chiron Return
Dear Friends in East Palestine and Surrounds:
This is an update for residents of E. Palestine and surroundings; it’s a briefing on how the EPA is planning to scam the dioxin tests. This is readily apparent from the plan they outlined in Thursday’s press release.
Here is my response. I recommend that the plan be rejected in its entirety. Once you understand it, you will see how it’s a pass for Norfolk Southern to leave the contamination where it is and move on.
In the audio above I left out three crucial issues.
One, it’s outrageous that the railroad’s consultant will be the only people doing the sampling. Two, there must be two consultants and two labs — split sampling.
Three, there must be citizen witnessing of the sampling. If this plan goes forward, it can waste six months of your time —while people continue to get exposed.
The problems I cover.
In the recording above and my response, I describe the issues with the locations of sampling, the types of samples that will be taken (air, water, soil and sediment verge on useless for dioxins at this time). In the recording above, I confront the “background level” study they say they are planning to do — this is where significant cheating can occur.
Here are my dioxin resources for journalists and citizens.
Now on Planet Waves FM: Who decides what is ‘acceptable’ | added March 5
Listen on Planet Wave FM
The new program is ready. Thank you for tuning in.
The U.S. EPA has said that it’s ordered Norfolk Southern to test for dioxin in East Palestine to determine whether “contaminants from the derailment pose any unacceptable risk to human health.” That implies that there is an acceptable risk. Who decides what is acceptable? And What, exactly, is “risk”? Find out tonight on Planet Waves FM. Helpful resources are located below the players.
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Norfolk Southern train derails in Springfield, Ohio: company says there were no hazardous materials aboard | added March 5
Read more at Yahoo News
Nearby residents were asked to shelter in place after a Norfolk Southern train derailed near a highway in the Springfield, Ohio, area on Saturday. Norfolk Southern confirmed in a statement to CBS News that 20 cars of a 212-car train derailed. The railway company said there were no hazardous materials aboard the train, and there were no reported injuries.
Residents within 1,000 feet of the derailment were asked to shelter-in-place out of an “abundance of caution,” the Clark County Emergency Management Agency reported. The derailment occurred near State Route 41. The derailment left more than 1,500 residents without power, Clark County reported.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg tweeted Saturday night that he had been briefed by Federal Railroad Administration staff about the derailment, and had also spoken to Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine. “No hazardous material release has been reported, but we will continue to monitor closely and FRA personnel are en route,” Buttigieg said. In a tweet, DeWine said that, along with speaking to Buttigieg, he also received a phone call from President Biden. DeWine reiterated that “we don’t believe hazardous materials were involved.” He said multiple state agencies were on scene.
Residents of East Palestine feel forgotten after toxic train derailment: ‘No one is coming to save us’ | added March 5
Read more at The Guardian
As a dense cloud of toxic smoke descended across Darlington in western Pennsylvania, Patrick Dittman knew that the catastrophic train derailment across the state line in East Palestine could also pose a danger to his family.
The 30-year-old bartender lives and works just a few miles from East Palestine, Ohio, where the Norfolk Southern’s 1.7-mile-long freight train carrying a hotchpotch of dangerous chemicals partly derailed and caught fire on 3 February. Three days later a billowing smoke plume and the stench of burning plastic blew east into Pennsylvania after crews conducted a controlled burn of the vinyl chloride onboard the derailed train to nullify the risk of a potentially deadly explosion.
The toxic cloud engulfed Darlington Township, a small rural community with 1,800 residents, coating lawns, crops and cars in black soot. “We wanted to get away even though we live outside the evacuation radius, but had nowhere to go. Over this way we’ve not been told anything about the implications – it’s very concerning,” said Dittman. Regulators overseeing the clean-up in East Palestine have pledged to make the multibillion-dollar railroad company foot the bill, but neighbouring communities feel forgotten.
Federal agency issues new advisory urging freight rail companies to take immediate safety measures | added March 5
Read more at CNN
A federal agency has issued a new advisory urging major freight rail companies “to take immediate safety measures to look at the performance of the protective coverings over the pressure relief valves,” a spokesperson for the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said Thursday.
The advisory, which does not mandate the measures, came as federal investigators probe further into the February 3 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. Several cars from the Norfolk Southern train were carrying the highly combustible chemical vinyl chloride when they derailed. The fiery wreck has since sparked outrage and health concerns in the local community. Pressure relief devices are designed to prevent pressure inside tank cars from building up and potentially causing an explosion.
After the train derailed, officials determined at least one train car containing vinyl chloride had malfunctioning safety valves, and authorities worried pressure buildup in that car could lead to a catastrophic explosion of the chemical – hurling toxic fumes and deadly shrapnel up to a mile away. Crews averted such an explosion by breaching cars containing vinyl chloride, draining the hazardous chemical into a trench and burning it off.
Union officials alert Biden administration that Ohio derailment site workers have become sick | added March 2
Read more at MSN
U.S. union official alerted the Biden administration to health problems caused by the Norfolk Southern derailment in February, saying that some workers have become sick. In a letter obtained by CNBC, union representative Jonathon Long said on Wednesday that rail workers have fallen ill at the East Palestine, Ohio crash site.
“Many other Employees reported that they continue to experience migraines and nausea, days after the derailment, and they all suspect that they were willingly exposed to these chemicals at the direction of NS [Norfolk Southern],” the letter reads.
“This lack of concern for the Workers’ safety and well-being is, again, a basic tenet of NS’s cost-cutting business model,” the letter added. On February 3, a freight train derailed in East Palestine, releasing hazardous materials. Nearby residents were evacuated while workers burned the chemicals in an attempt to dispose of them.
The Grayzone from East Palestine: Norfolk Southern pays private police and environmental consultants | added March 2
Watch the video on YouTube
Reporter Jeremy Loffredo reports for The Grayzone from East Palestine, Ohio, where Norfolk Southern’s detonation of a train filled with vinyl chloride has poisoned the town’s waterways and left residents wondering if they have to permanently relocate. While there, Loffredo learns of private police and environmental consultants paid by Norfolk Southern to enforce the corporation’s narrative of a successful clean-up.
How chemical poisons such as DDT get passed down through family generations | added March 2
Read more at CBC News
[June 18, 2021] New research is providing worrying evidence that your grandparents’ exposure to toxic pollutants like DDT could increase the risk of illnesses for you and all your future offspring.A recent study suggests that granddaughters of women who were exposed to DDT decades ago are more likely to menstruate early, more susceptible to becoming obese and may even have a higher risk of developing breast cancer. Michele La Merrill, an environmental toxicologist from the University of California, Davis, is one of the authors of this multigenerational human study, but she also studies this in animals.
She said that her group has also found in animals that DDT impedes how calories are burned, which leads to more calories getting stored as fat. But other work suggests that the effects of pollution exposure could last well beyond three generations. Michael Skinner, a biologist from Washington State University, studies how environmental toxicants, like DDT, affect epigenetic inheritance.
Controversial waste removal site with multiple violations to receive materials from train derailment | added March 2
Read more at NBC News
EAST LIVERPOOL, Ohio — For 30 years, this small city along the Ohio River has been home to the Heritage Thermal Services incinerator, a controversial hazardous waste facility that has been cited for multiple violations and faced numerous lawsuits. In 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency said in a report that the Heritage site had repeatedly exposed the community to chemicals that can cause cancer and miscarriages.
The facility has denied any wrongdoing and continued to operate, and is now receiving toxic waste from last month’s Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, 20 miles away.
“I think at some point, the powers that be are just like, ‘You know, they’ve been getting it forever. We’ll just put that there instead of polluting a new community,’” said Amanda Kiger, 49, who added that she has had cancer twice and knows many others in the area who’ve been diagnosed as well. “They just pile it on us.”
CEO of Norfolk Southern railroad to testify in Congress over failed precautions when transporting hazardous materials | added March 2
Read more at AP News
The CEO of Norfolk Southern railroad will testify in Congress next week about last month’s fiery Ohio derailment and the precautions the railroad takes to prevent similar crashes.
The railroad said Wednesday that Alan Shaw had agreed to appear before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works next Thursday. He is likely to face tough questions about whether the railroad has been investing enough in safety as it slashed jobs and streamlined operations in recent years to rely on fewer, longer trains.
Already, several lawmakers have proposed a series of rail safety reforms in response to the Feb. 3 derailment that forced the evacuation of half the town of East Palestine, Ohio, near the Pennsylvania border because of concerns about the toxic chemicals that were on fire. The National Transportation Safety Board has said that an overheating bearing likely caused the derailment that sent 38 cars, including 11 carrying hazardous materials, off the tracks.
CHD calls for congressional investigation into secret “problem codes” placed in files of unvaxed NYC educators | added Mar. 2
Read more at The Defender
Children’s Health Defense (CHD) today called for a bipartisan congressional investigation into the secret “problem codes” New York City officials placed into the files of educators who lawfully declined covid-19 vaccines.
The city’s “unwillingness to be transparent about how and when these codes are used and under what circumstances requires a thorough and complete investigation,” said CHD President Mary Holland, lead author of a letter sent to congressional leadership and the New York delegation.
Holland added: “We must uncover the city’s purpose for these designations and what punitive measures it contemplated or carried out against employees for their personal healthcare decisions. “City Hall recently denied that these Problem Codes have any external impact on employees or former employees, but that is incorrect.”
Novavax hits three-year low after ‘covid’ vax maker raises concerns over future of business | added March 2
Read more at Global News
Novavax Inc.’s shares plunged to a three-year low on Wednesday, a day after the covid-19 vaccine maker raised doubts about its ability to remain in business.
The American company had previously signed a deal with the federal government to produce covid-19 vaccines in Montreal, and saw its stock fall as much as 28.3 per cent to US$6.64 as of 1:30 p.m. ET, while its Frankfurt-listed shares slumped nearly 30 per cent.
The company — which has its covid-19 vaccine as the only marketed product after 35 years in business — on Tuesday flagged significant uncertainty around its 2023 revenue, funding from the U.S. government, and pending arbitration with global vaccine alliance Gavi.
Man finds undetonated blasting cap on property 1.4 miles away from East Palestine toxic train explosion | added March 2
Read more at The Epoch Times
Like many residents who live within a few miles of Norfolk Southern Railway’s Feb. 3 train derailment, Jerry Corbin evacuated before the railroad decided to conduct a controlled burn of five freight cars containing the toxic vinyl chloride on Feb. 6.
When he returned to his home in Darlington Township, Pennsylvania—around 1.4 miles from the crash site—Corbin discovered two surprises. Black debris that resemble ash was strewn all over his yard and on his roof, and an “undetonated blasting cap” landed in a pasture near his house.
On the evening of Feb. 3, a Norfolk Southern train carrying 151 cars derailed in East Palestine, a village of 4,761 located in eastern Ohio near the Pennsylvania border. According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), “38 rail cars derailed, and a fire ensued which damaged an additional 12 cars.”
CSIS intelligence officer fired for complaining over lack of masking during height of ‘covid’ pandemic | added March 2
Read more at Global News
A Canadian intelligence officer has been fired for speaking publicly about what he felt were inadequate covid-19 policies at CSIS headquarters during the height of the pandemic. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service dismissed Gary Vos Smith for giving an interview to Global News about the lack of mandatory masking at the agency’s building in Ottawa.
A disciplinary committee found that Vos Smith had acted “in an inappropriate manner,” according to a termination letter he received from CSIS director David Vigneault on Nov. 16, 2022.
The letter, obtained by Global News, also said he should have known his actions “could pose a notable risk to the organization as a whole and from an identity management perspective.” “The committee has recommended the termination of your employment, which I support given the seriousness of your actions,” read Vigneault’s letter.
Toxic removal crews to clean hazardous waste in Ohio nearly four weeks after train explosion | added March 1
Read more at MSN
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and First Lady Fran DeWine are set to visit the toxic train derailment site in East Palestine Wednesday for an update on the removal of the hazardous waste from the wreck.
Crews are expected to begin removing the train tracks as soon as Wednesday to clean the hazardous waste underneath the derailment site, nearly four weeks after the fiery February 3 crash and subsequent release of dangerous chemical vinyl chloride from its cars, according to the governor’s office.
The governor and first lady will also visit Sulphur Run and Leslie Run – two contaminated Ohio waterways – for an update on water testing and washing of the sediment in the streambeds. The visit comes as the US Environmental Protection Agency is deploying a mobile laboratory to conduct “real time” air monitoring and sampling in the small town, regional EPA Administrator Debra Shore said Tuesday.
Attorney Ralph Kirk writes to reporter Eric Coppolino on wrongful death case due to PCB exposure | added March 1
Read more at Planet Waves FM from Chiron Return
Eric,
I am pleased to report that a hearing was held on 6/2/21 at which time the Judge ruled in favor of the widow, Patricia Hall and awarded death benefits for death arising out of and in the course of employment. Dr. Basri, our consultant, opined and testified that the Martin Hall, deceased, in the post explosion cleanup was subject to extreme exposure to benzene meta derivatives caused by the blast mechanism of the transformer explosion.
He spoke as an physician with specialty in internal medicine, a chemist, a volunteer fireman with 33 years of experience and from his research relative to transformer explosions including research into the post 9/11 and ConEd fires with explosion of transformers on 14th street NYC. He testified the exposure contributed to the development of coronary artery disease in April, 1999 and Acute Myeloid leukemia in May, 2007 and death in 2015.
The insurance carrier consultant agreed. They had a difficult time finding a consultant to do a records review. When they did they unwittingly tightened the noose around their own neck. The Judge had wiggle room to go either way, before he provided a corroborative opinion. Check and match.
In any event, I wanted to thank you for your assistance.
High detection of chemicals in Ohio sparks major concern for nearby states | added March 1
Read more at CNN
The aftermath of the toxic train wreck in Ohio keeps spreading to more states as scientists say tests in East Palestine show unusually high levels of some chemicals.
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb is the latest out-of-state official to say he was stunned to learn hazardous waste from the Norfolk Southern train derailment and subsequent release of toxic chemicals was headed to his state.
“After learning third-hand that materials may be transported to our state yesterday, I directed my environmental director to reach out” to the US Environmental Protection Agency, Holcomb said in a written statement Tuesday. “The materials should go to the nearest facilities, not moved from the far eastern side of Ohio to the far western side of Indiana,” Holcomb said. “I want to know exactly what precautions will be taken in the transport and disposition of the materials.”
After surprise shipments of hazardous waste to Texas and Michigan, the EPA approved two sites in Ohio to handle safe disposal of the waste.
EPA opens office near Ohio train explosion while claiming tests show no water and air contamination | added March 1
Read more at Yahoo News
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio (AP) — The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday he doesn’t want any stigmas attached to the Ohio community where a train derailed and spewed toxic gases three weeks ago and that he’s pushing the railroad to clean up the mess as fast as possible.
The agency is continuing to monitor the air around East Palestine and working to protect the area during the cleanup, said EPA Administrator Michael Regan. State and federal officials say testing has shown no signs of contamination from the derailment in the air or the village’s water system.
“We don’t want a black eye on this community,” he said. The agency on Tuesday opened an office where people can sign up for air monitoring inside their homes and cleaning services at their homes and businesses. Residents can also go to the office to ask officials other questions about the cleanup effort.
Bipartisan group of senators introduce legislation to prevent toxic rail disasters after East Palestine explosion | added Mar. 1
Read more at NBC News
A bipartisan group of senators will introduce legislation Wednesday aimed at preventing rail disasters after the devastating derailment in East Palestine last month.
The Railway Safety Act of 2023 would create more stringent safety requirements for trains carrying hazardous materials and increase the frequency of rail car inspections. It would also require trained, two-person crews to work aboard every train carrying hazardous materials and levy heightened fines for rail carriers’ wrongdoing.
The Feb. 3 derailment of a Norfolk Southern train carrying vinyl chloride led to a spill of toxic chemicals. Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers have called on Biden administration officials to prioritize addressing the crisis, while some Democrats have faulted former President Donald Trump with undoing rail safety rules during his tenure.
Officials investigate Florida train derailment carrying thousands of gallons of propane | added March 1
Read more at USA Today
Officials are investigating a train that derailed in Florida on Tuesday which left mangled tracks and a tanker carrying thousands of gallons of propane tipped over, the latest incident after the high-profile derailment in East Palestine, Ohio earlier this month.
The Seminole Gulf Railway train jumped its tracks near Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport, and fire and rescue officials said there were no reports of injuries reported and no evidence of leaks at the site.
Southern Manatee Fire District Chief Robert Bounds told the Bradenton Herald that six box cars tipped over, including one carrying 30,000 gallons of propane. Another carrying propane came off the tracks but did not tip over.
Scientists warn of long-term health risks despite EPA claiming no health concerns | added March 1
Read more at The New York Post
An independent analysis of Environmental Protection Agency data from the Ohio train derailment site found that many of the toxic chemicals detected could pose long-term health risks if they continue at current levels.
Scientists from Texas A&M and Carnegie Mellon University studied the measurements of air pollutants collected by the EPA and said nine of the pollutants were at higher than normal levels.
“If they continue at these levels, they may be of health concern,” the researchers wrote on Twitter. A chemical called acrolein — which can cause inflammation and irritation of the skin, respiratory tract and mucous membranes, according to the CDC — had the highest levels among the pollutants found in East Palestine, according to their research.
EPA still has not investigated all dangerous side effects of pesticides on endocrine function | added March 1
Editor’s Note: While endocrine malfunction is an unfortunate side effect of these poisons, the glands and organs responsible for the production of specific hormones in proportionate amounts: hypothalamus, pituitary, thyroid, adrenals, pineal is where we have seen most of these health issues arise first. The central nervous system, i.e. command center “BRAIN” is under attack — especially with the rollout of these mRNA shots. — mmd
Read more at The Defender
In 1996, Congress ordered the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to test all pesticides used on food for endocrine disruption by 1999. The EPA still doesn’t do this today.
Nor does it appear close to doing so, argue the plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed against the agency in December 2022 for its ongoing failure to implement the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program.
“As of the time of this filing, more than 25 years after the passage of the Food Quality Protection Act, [the] EPA has yet to implement the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program it created and further, has failed to even initiate endocrine testing for approximately 96% of registered pesticides,” the lawsuit states.
FBI director states ‘covid’ most likely leaked in a Chinese lab | added March 1
Read more at The Guardian
Christopher Wray, the FBI director, has weighed in on the debate over the origins of the covid-19 virus, using an appearance on Fox News to endorse the theory that the virus potentially originated from a leak in a Chinese laboratory.
“The FBI has for quite some time now assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan,” Wray told Fox News’ Brett Baier, adding that the assessment was based on research the agency’s analysts, including scientists, had conducted and that “our work related to this continues”.
Wray’s high-profile public comment highlights the divide within the US intelligence community about the origins of the pandemic, with some federal agencies, including the FBI and the Department of Energy, concluding that the covid-19 virus probably originated from a lab leak in China, while others have concluded that it first spread from infected animals to humans.
Cardiologists allege ‘covid’ virus carries higher risk of developing heart-related issues than shots | added March 1
Read more at CTV News
Nearly three years since the start of the covid-19 pandemic, a growing body of research is showing links between covid-19 and heart-related problems, particularly in young people.
One study published in the scientific journal Nature Medicine on Feb. 7 found that rates of conditions such as heart failure and stroke were substantially higher in people who had recovered from covid-19 than those who had never contracted the virus. Even people who had experienced a mild case of covid-19 were at risk, the study found.
“Overall, when you sort of zoom out and look at all the evidence, it does look as if covid, as a rule, as an illness, regardless of its severity, does increase the risk of developing cardiac complications,” cardiologist Christopher Labos told CTV News Channel on Feb. 11. “And it seems to affect all people of all age brackets.”