A new symptom tracker for East Palestine residents is helping researchers document health changes stemming from the Norfolk Southern train derailment three years ago.
Residents have long complained about symptoms they say stem from the derailment, which resulted in the vent and burn of five cars filled with a carcinogen called vinyl chloride.
Nearly 80 people have already submitted symptoms to the tracker created by the University of California San Diego Golomb Research Group.
Researchers are comparing the symptoms experienced by East Palestine residents to Gulf War veterans, lead researcher Dr. Beatrice Golomb said. Gulf War veterans have reported a series of chronic symptoms, including fatigue, headaches, joint pain, indigestion, insomnia, dizziness, respiratory disorders and memory problems, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
"Our approach is to capitalize on lessons learned from a study that has had a lot of money put into it over several decades, like the Gulf War veterans mixed toxic exposure thing, to try to jumpstart both understanding and help for people," Golomb said.
Anecdotal evidence so far shows symptoms may decrease when people move out of East Palestine, she said.
“Certainly, continuing to have a potential exposure is not helping, and it’s likely that some symptoms may go away," she said. "And we can hope that many of them will, if people leave the area.”
Researchers will soon launch a small trial to see if a supplement that has helped Gulf War veterans will help East Palestine residents, Golomb said, but there are other ways residents can try to relieve their symptoms, like abstaining from cigarettes and alcohol.
"Even small amounts of alcohol and smoking — not just because alcohol and smoking are bad — they increase the post-derailment symptoms," she said.
The supplement — Coenzyme Q10 — was found to relieve symptoms of pain and fatigue in Gulf War veterans.
"We did a study in Gulf War veterans that was published in 2014 that showed that Coenzyme Q10, which supports energy production and antioxidation, did alleviate symptoms compared to placebo in a double blind trial," Golomb said, adding that it also significantly improved objectively measured physical function.
Golomb's previous research found 73% of respondents in East Palestine met the criteria for Gulf War Syndrome.
“They’ll be randomly allocated either to the CoQ10 or the placebo arm and then after three to 3 1/2 months, they’ll be crossed over to whatever they were not on initially," she said, "and that way everybody will have the opportunity to be on active treatment.”
Golomb hopes to recruit 20 to 30 people for the study.
Several other studies are examining the public health impacts of the derailment, but the Golomb Research Group's study is the only one applying potential solutions to residents' health concerns, she said.
"Every dollar spent here is an investment that will benefit people that have the next mixed low-level chemical exposure," Golomb said, "and those are often small events that only affect a modest number of people that don't have political capital and will never be able to have a study done for them."
As people are exposed to more toxic chemicals in their everyday lives, this research could have far reaching implications, she said. A 2023 study from Silent Spring Institute and the University of California, Berkeley found more than 5,000 tons of toxic chemicals are released from consumer products into homes and workplaces every year.
"The lessons that we learn from the investments here, the folks in East Palestine deserve them themselves, and are in desperate need for them, but it's an investment with really serious prospects to benefit us all," Golomb said.
