February 12, 2025
Train derailments are more common in the United States than many realize, with an average of about three per day.
What is less common is a resulting disaster like that in East Palestine, Ohio, last year, when the town was evacuated after a cancer-causing, toxic chemical spill from the 150-car derailment.
Vinyl chloride, a human carcinogen, leaked into the air and water after a Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous materials derailed near the small Ohio town in February 2023. Authorities, concerned about the danger of explosion, conducted a controlled burn of the chemicals and evacuated over 1,500 residents from the area. However, after five days, the EPA and local officials claimed it was safe for them to return.
Despite those assurances, residents of East Palestine have lingering fears about possible long-term health consequences from vinyl chloride and other hazardous chemicals that spilled from the freight train derailment. Some residents reported symptoms of dizziness, headaches and rashes.
Vinyl chloride is used to make plastic products such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a hard plastic resin in pipes, wire and cable coatings and packaging materials. Vinyl chloride is also produced as a combustion product in tobacco smoke. It can cause cancer at high levels of exposure.
Besides chemical spills, people can be exposed to the hazardous chemical at work. Workers at facilities where vinyl chloride is produced or used may be exposed primarily through inhalation. The general population may be exposed by inhaling contaminated air or tobacco smoke.
In the environment, the highest levels of vinyl chloride are found in air around factories that produce vinyl products. If a water supply is contaminated, vinyl chloride can enter household air when the water is used for showering, cooking or laundry, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Vinyl chloride exposure is associated with an increased risk of a rare form of liver cancer called hepatic angiosarcoma, as well as primary liver cancer known as hepatocellular carcinoma, brain and lung cancers, lymphoma and leukemia.
Vinyl chloride is a coloress gas with a mild, sweet odor, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Vinyl chloride can irritate the eyes, mucous membranes and respiratory tract.
Symptoms from exposure include dizziness, shortness of breath, cough, dizziness, headaches and respiratory distress. Other symptoms ay include inebriation, fatigue, numbness and tingling of the extremities, visual disturbances, coma and death.
The Transportation Department’s Federal Railroad Administration has reported an average of 1,475 train derailments per year between 2005-2021, or about roughly three per day.
Beyond train derailments, a new report by environmental justice organizations found that once every five days there is an incident in which vinyl chloride is illegally released into the environment.
The groups Beyond Plastics and Earthjustice found that there have been at least 966 chemical incident reports involving vinyl chloride since 2010. Most of those incidents occurred at facilities that manufacture and process the toxic chemical.
The number of vinyl chloride manufacturing facilities across the country has declined over the years, but the volume of production has increased substantially — from 6.8 billion pounds in 1974 to more than 18.6 billion pounds in 2021, the report said. The dozen facilities that operate today are located in Texas, Louisiana and Kentucky.
While there is a concern for the communities near these processing facilities, the report also highlights the dangers of transporting vinyl chloride across the country via train. There have been at least 29 derailments of train cars carrying the chemical since 1968, and nearly half resulted in the vinyl chloride being released into the environment, the report said.
“Companies expose people to vinyl chloride through every phase of its life cycle,” the report said. “People working at factories that make vinyl chloride, people transporting the chemical, and communities living in neighborhoods near factories or railroads are particularly at risk of experiencing a high-exposure incident.”
The organizations said they want the Environmental Protection Agency to designate vinyl chloride as a high-priority chemical under the Toxic Substances Control Act to phase it out and ultimately ban its use.
However, the Vinyl Institute, a trade organization that represents vinyl manufacturers, told Scripps News that the chemical is vital for PVC pipes used for clean water lines and medical products. The group also claims the industry has made significant strides in workplace safety since the 1970s.
The EPA will decide on the designation of vinyl chloride and another four chemicals it is reviewing at the end of the year.
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