By DAVID SKOLNICK

Staff writer

The National Institutes of Health agreed to a five-year, $10 million research initiative to address and assess the long-term health impacts caused by the Feb. 3, 2023, disastrous train derailment in East Palestine.

Vice President J.D. Vance, who was a vocal advocate for East Palestine when he was a U.S. senator from Ohio, pushed for the initiative.

“This historic research initiative will finally result in answers that this community deserves,” he said.

Vance said, “As a senator, it was incredibly frustrating watching the (Joe) Biden administration refuse to examine the potentially dangerous health impacts on the people of East Palestine following the train derailment. I’m proud that we finally have a new president that takes the concerns of everyday, working-class people seriously.”

During a Feb. 16, 2024, visit to East Palestine, Biden, a Democrat, announced six National Institutes of Health grants to study the short-term and long-term effects of the derailment. The grants were awarded to universities including Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and two to the University of Pittsburgh.

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, which is part of the NIH, wrote of those six grants: “Many of the grantees have already been working in the area and have established good working relationships with the community.” The NIEHS website also provides details of those studies.

Claudia Thompson, chief of the NIEHS’s Population Health Branch, said: “The research being conducted by these six groups over the next two years will characterize exposures and collect health outcome data and will be carried out in close partnership with the community.”

During a Feb. 3 visit to East Palestine, to commemorate the two-year anniversary of the derailment, Vance vowed: “This community will not be forgotten, will not be left behind and we are in it for the long haul.”

A bipartisan group of U.S. House members — Michael Rulli, R-Salem; Dave Joyce, R-Bainbridge; Marcy Kaptur, D-Toledo; and Emilia Sykes, D-Akron — reintroduced legislation Feb. 7 to authorize funding through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the NIH, over the next five years to study the long-term health impacts of the trail derailment.

Thursday’s announcement seems to be everything the legislation sought. But Congress passing the law would codify the executive branch’s funding decision.

Joyce said he will continue to work with the President Donald Trump administration to enact his bill “and similar programs that advocate for the long-term recovery of the region.”

The East Palestine Health Impact Monitoring Act would require the HHS secretary to award a grant, contract or cooperative agreement to a group of higher education institutions to conduct a study on the human health impacts as a result of the derailment and controlled explosion of hazardous chemicals in East Palestine.

HHS would be required to submit a report to congressional committees and a progress report on the status of research to those committees two years after the bill goes into effect.

The bill was referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on Feb. 7, the same day it was introduced, with the Republican majority failing to hold even a single hearing to date. Rulli sits on the committee.

Joyce introduced the same legislation March 23, 2024. It was referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Health, which never held a hearing with a Republican majority.

A companion bill was introduced March 21, 2024, by Vance in the Senate without a vote by the upper chamber, which was controlled by Democrats at the time.

At Vance’s urging, the HHS had the NIH launch the five-year, $10 million effort, according to a Thursday announcement.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. praised Vance for helping “drive the first large-scale, coordinated, multi-year federal study dedicated to the long-term health effects of the East Palestine, Ohio, disaster. The people of East Palestine have a right to clear, science-based answers about the impact on their health.”

About 50 Norfolk Southern railroad cars, including 10 carrying hazardous materials, derailed Feb. 3, 2023, in East Palestine. Five of the cars, carrying vinyl chloride, were purposely blown up three days later releasing the toxic chemical into the air.

The derailment and controlled explosion caused the evacuation of thousands of residents of East Palestine and nearby communities.

Several residents have concerns about health issues from the release of toxic chemicals into the air, soil and water. They have reported headaches as well as respiratory, skin and eye irritations.

The explosion was done at the recommendations of Specialized Professional Services Inc. and Specialized Response Solutions, two Norfolk Southern contractors.

The contractors said to not do the controlled burn would have meant an uncontrolled explosion that could have spread toxic chemicals and shrapnel for miles.

During a March 6, 2024, Senate Commerce Committee hearing, Vance questioned Jennifer Homendy, chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, about the controlled explosion with her saying Norfolk Southern contractors who made that recommendation “lacked the scientific background to address that” decision.

Norfolk Southern has denied the charges that the controlled burn wasn’t necessary.

The series of NIH studies will include research to understand the health impacts of exposures on short- and long-term health outcomes, public health tracking and surveillance of the community’s health conditions to support health-care decisions and preventive measures, and extensive and coordinated communications among various stakeholders and others to establish a comprehensive approach to address the health concerns of those in and around East Palestine, according to the HHS.

The deadline to submit research proposals is July 21 with some projects expected to begin in the fall.

Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, said: “This funding will enable the people of East Palestine to have the peace of mind that comes from knowing that any potential for long-term health effects will be studied by scientists at the National Institutes of Health.”

Rulli, whose district includes East Palestine, complimented Trump and criticized Biden over how the derailment was handled after it occurred.

“Once again, this administration is showing the American people what true leadership looks like — putting Americans first,” he said.

Rulli said the Biden administration “tried to sweep under the rug the catastrophic negligence and long-term health consequences of the East Palestine disaster.”

Joyce said: “I applaud the Trump-Vance administration for not leaving the people of East Palestine behind. Programs like these, in coordination with other federal, state and local partners are critical to ensuring the impacted communities can move forward with the essential tools and knowledge to safeguard their long-term well-being.”