CDC advised health care providers not to test E Palestine residents for chemical illnesses, lawsuit alleges

Newsnation reported this week that the CDC advised local health care providers in East Palestine, OH, not to test local residents for chemical illnesses after the town was exposed to a toxic plume from a “controlled burn” after the Norfolk Southern train derailment in 2023. A lawsuit has been filed against Norfolk Southern and more than 50 other defendants by 793 residents of East Palestine, alleging a conspiracy by Vanguard, BlackRock, Mercy Health, and Quest to deny health care to the East Palestine residents.

In addition, FOIA documents from 2024 show FEMA official Jim McPherson stating, “The occurrence of a cancer-cluster in EP is not zero.” This acknowledgment by McPherson contradicts the statements of other officials in the Biden administration, including EPA coordinator Michael Regan and Emergency Response Official Mark Durno, who both downplayed the seriousness of the harm caused to the residents exposed to toxic levels of dioxins and other chemicals.

Scott Smith, a whistleblower client of the Government Accountability Project, told The HighWire last year about an EPA cover-up in East Palestine, including cherry-picked testing locations and operating as the “public relations arm of Norfolk Southern.” Smith has visited East Palestine 27 times and conducted 31 rounds of testing independent of the EPA and Norfolk Southern. The latest revelations about the CDC guiding healthcare providers not to test residents add more leverage to the argument that officials within the government have aided the railroad company in diminishing real harms and cancers. On the day a “controlled burn” was conducted in 2023, a toxic plume was released over 16 states and part of Canada.

On February 3, 2023, the train operated by Norfolk Southern with vinyl chloride and other toxic chemicals derailed in East Palestine. On February 6, “officials released toxic chemicals” as reported by CBS News, otherwise known as the “controlled burn.” On February 8, the evacuation order was lifted. NPR reported that residents could “safely return” to their homes following air quality testing and statements by East Palestine Fire Chief Keith Drabick and EPA official James Justice.

“It was not acute exposure; it was chronic exposure,” Smith said in an interview with News Nation’s Elizabeth Vargas on Friday. “It was ongoing exposure with the remediation and the cleanup. You hear shelter-in-place, that’s just not true. It’s called forced exposure in place. They should have permanently been evacuated, or at least been given the option. Instead, it was forced exposure over time courtesy of the very own government that is supposed to protect its citizens.”