Weeks after a train derailment of toxic chemicals in East Palestine, OH, local farmers say they've not seen any negative health impacts in their animals. But they, and many in the local community, remain anxious about the long-term health impacts of the spill.."What are we going to do? We don't have anywhere else to go. So we get on with our lives, use bottled water, and hope we don't get cancer in five years," said Rachel Wagoner, an Ohio farmer and.On Feb. 3, a 141 car train derailed and caught fire near East Palestine. A total of 20 of the cars were carrying hazardous materials, so a controlled vent and burn was done to prevent the cars from exploding. .According to the National Cancer Institute, exposure to vinyl chloride, one of the chemicals found on the trains, can increase the risk of developing liver, brain and lung cancers, as well as lymphoma and leukemia. Short-term symptoms of vinyl chloride toxicity include headaches, dizziness and unclear vision..Shortly after the derailment, there were reports of animals falling sick and dying as far as 15km away from the site. One farmer said several of the foxes he keeps on his property have became mortally ill, while another said all her chickens passed away suddenly..READ MORE: Residents report animals dying after toxic chemical spill in Ohio.But Wagner, who also works as a journalist for the local publication Farm and Dairy, said the sheep and cattle on her farm are "all perfectly fine."."I let them out just the day before they did that controlled release. So I was a little worried about them, but everyone's fine, as far as I can see," she told the Western Standard.However, Wagner said many local rural residents are concerned about their private water wells. There is a severe backlog for well testing due to the train derailment, so residents have been using bottled water instead.Wagner pointed out that the area is known for fracking to extract oil and natural gas, a process known to have negative health impacts on humans."So is the air bad because of this [derailment], or was it already bad because of other things have been going around here?" she asked."They're working on studies showing the associations between fracking and cancer. So how can you know someone's strange ailment was because of the derailment, and not because they lived next to a steel mill all their lives? There are environmental concerns, but I worry that people are sort of being whipped into a frenzy about it more than they need to be.".Jason, a farmer located 8 km from the derailment site, said his turkeys or chickens have been fine since the derailment. He heard from one farmer whose cows stopped eating their feed after the train explosion, but returned to eating the food a few days afterwards..Jason said he also knows of a few people within 8-km of the train derailment who reported cases of rashes and "swelling of the lips," but they haven't been serious enough to warrant medical attention..However, Jason said he's still concerned the accident may have contaminated the local soil and water, which could have long-term impacts on the community.."It's a tragic accident, and thankfully, nobody lost their life. But what is going to be your 5, 10, 15, or 20-year impact?" Jason said.."They say the air quality is back to normal, but how much of it got into the groundwater? Is it going to travel? You have to get a geologist or a hydrologist looking at it and seeing what the effects are going to be.".Jason said he hopes the federal government will hold Norfolk Southern accountable for the accident, as well as take steps to ensure a similar accident doesn't happen again..Jacqueline Schneltz, who farms chickens, sheep, geese and turkeys 3-km away from East Palestine, also said her animals have been fine since the derailment. While Schneltz saw a lot of frightened people in the area, she had also "never seen a cleanup conducted so professionally and so thoroughly.". Ohio fireA view of the train derailment from Jacqueline's farm ."I'm from Louisiana and I've been around a lot of chemical spills. I've never seen anything that actually as as well as what they're doing. I've never seen a town monitored so much," she said..The US government ordered Norfolk Southern to clean up contaminated soil and water at the site of a train derailment. Schneltz told the Western Standard she witnessed workers digging eight feet deep into the ground to check if chemicals were polluting the soil.."So a lack of effort is not there, but I think a lack of understanding from people is, partially due to a lot of fear being put into the air by news outlets," she said..Schneltz confirmed 3,500 fish died in a stream "not even a mile from my house," shortly after the derailment occurred. She said the town of East Palestine also has a chemical smell — an observation made by other local residents — but attributed it to there being more vehicle traffic in the small town..Schneltz said she had heard of farmers' animals falling sick after the derailment, but said residents were given ample warning to evacuation before the controlled burn.."I did pack up everything that I could before they did the controlled release, just in case the worst case scenario happened. And honestly, the best thing that could have happened, happened," she said. "This was a bad situation but we didn't have an uncontrolled explosion, we didn't have shrapnel, we didn't have chemicals being sprayed directly into onto houses."."But I'm telling you, they are doing more of a job cleaning up these chemicals on a regular basis than I've ever seen."
