Health surveys of residents around East Palestine, Ohio show that people reported health symptoms related to the train derailment and chemical fires that happened in early February.
The results were discussed during a meeting that was held Tuesday evening.
About 40 residents showed up to hear federal and state health officials explain the results of what’s called an Assessment of Chemical Exposures, or ACE, survey.
Jill Shugart, with the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, says 702 people in Ohio and Pennsylvania filled out surveys between Feb. 21 through the end of March, with most of them being completed at health clinics.
Shugart said many of the people said they experienced headaches, coughing, difficulty breathing, stuffy noses, sinus congestion and a burning nose or throat.
Shugart also confirmed that some health officials also became ill themselves when canvassing the community.
She says there will be workshops in the coming weeks to discuss future health research projects.
At the meeting, some attendees pushed for biological testing to see if any chemicals were in their bodies.
Toxicologist Shan Yin, director of the Cincinnati Poison Control Center, said Ohioans would need to get those tests in Pittsburgh. "If you want to be evaluated in person (by a) biomedical toxicologist, unfortunately right now in Ohio, there are no toxicology clinics," Yin said.
Yin also said that people need to get a referral from their primary care physician to get these tests.
