Toxic garlic should have prompted EPA to warn against gardening near Ohio derailment, watchdog says

The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to conduct additional studies of soil near the site of a toxic train derailment in Ohio and warn people that it may not be safe to garden there after independent tests showed high levels of chemicals in locally grown garlic, a watchdog group said Thursday.

In a petition filed with the federal agency, the nonprofit Government Accountability Project says the EPA should have already acted on testing of gardens and crops in the town where the Norfolk Southern derailment took place .

“It is unconscionable that the EPA has not conducted its own tests on vegetable crops in eastern Palestine, nor has it sampled dioxins in household products,” said Lesley Pacey, chief The nonprofit group's senior environmental officer told The Associated Press ahead of the event. filing a petition. “Yet the EPA has asked residents to garden and eat homemade produce as usual.”

The Associated Press sent emails to EPA officials Thursday seeking comment on the petition.

The agency has been telling people it has been safe to garden for nearly three months after the February 2023 derailment, based on testing by state agriculture officials in 31 locations around the city and on surrounding farms. Officials tested winter wheat, malting barley, pasture grasses and rye from area farms.

“Residential soil sampling results are within typical ranges for the area, and garden plants are generally considered edible,” the EPA told the community.

In the past, agency officials have rejected independent tests cited by the Government Accountability Project, highlighting concerns about quality control. The tests were carried out by Scott Smith, a businessman and inventor who, since his own factory was flooded by contaminated floodwaters in 2006, has embarked on a crusade to help communities affected by disasters chemicals.

EPA officials say they can't say whether its data is valid without reviewing all the reports detailing its methodology and results. Smith offered last summer to share his files with the agency, but only if it shared his information with him. They never reached an agreement.

The EPA said previous tests by contractors hired by the railroad did not show elevated levels of dioxins or other chemicals outside the train derailment site after the lifting of the ban. the initial evacuation order and therefore additional testing at individual stations and gardens had not been carried out. necessary.

The only place the EPA reported finding high levels of cancer-causing dioxins was in the area immediately around the derailment, about two weeks after the accident. This soil was included in the nearly 179,000 tons (71,668 metric tons) of material dug up and disposed of last year.

But some residents are not taking any risks.

Marilyn Figley didn't dare plant a garden last year after the derailment, even though she and her husband do everything they can to be self-sufficient, including gardening and raising chickens for their meat and eggs. Some of his garlic had dioxin levels more than 500 times higher than a sample of garlic grown in someone else's garden the year before the derailment, according to Smith's tests.

But Figley said they decided to replant a garden this year after using one of her husband's tractors to remove the top 3 inches (8 centimeters) of soil and replace it with fresh soil.

“I’d rather eat dioxins than starve, I guess,” Figley said. “I'm quite worried, but what can you do?”

Dioxins have been a major concern for residents of eastern Palestine since authorities decided to blow up five tank cars from the derailed train and burn the vinyl chloride they contained. The chemical is used to make a variety of plastic products, including pipes, cables and packaging materials, and is found in polyvinyl chloride plastic, better known as PVC. Thousands of residents had to temporarily evacuate their homes after the derailment and while the vinyl chloride was evacuated and burned, which caused a huge toxic plume of black smoke above the city.

Last summer, the local farmers market made a point of importing produce from several states due to all the concerns about anything grown in the area.

“I certainly haven't eaten anyone's tomatoes or cucumbers,” said Tamara Lynn Freeze, whose freshly grown garlic was also tested by Smith and showed dioxin levels five times higher than those found in the garlic that she still had in her garage for a year. before the derailment.

Freeze says she developed a chronic sinus infection and joint pain after the derailment — symptoms that seem to ease whenever she moves away from the area for more than a few hours.

Smith has traveled to eastern Palestine more than two dozen times since the derailment to test soil and water for dioxins and other chemicals. He's not a trained scientist, but he's been traveling to chemical disaster sites for years. His tests are reviewed by a team of scientific advisors, including a former Ohio EPA expert, and he sends all of his samples to a lab that the EPA and others agree is reputable.

Smith is also an inventor and holds 25 patents, including for a specialized foam that repels water and absorbs oil, which he developed at his former company, Cellect Technologies. He has offered to sell the product in some of the affected communities he visited, but he says he is not making money from his work in eastern Palestine.

Smith got his start with disasters when chemically contaminated floodwaters overran a Cellect factory, destroying equipment and forcing the company to close for months. Since then, he has led investigations into dozens of environmental and health emergencies, including the BP Gulf oil spill and the Flint, Michigan, lead water crisis.

In Flint, some of Smith's results were used by a nonprofit group affiliated with actor Mark Ruffalo that questioned whether it was safe to swim in the city's water. Smith's actions brought him into conflict with scientists who were conducting their own tests and with EPA response coordinator Mark Durno, the same agency official overseeing the cleanup in eastern California. Palestine.

Despite their disagreements, Durno noted that Smith “certainly understands how to use appropriate laboratories both for the chemical work he does and the biological work he does.”

“From that perspective, he seems qualified to collect samples and collect and share data,” Durno said in a video interview he gave for an unfinished documentary about Smith's work.

But in East Palestine, Durno constantly questioned the quality of Smith's tests. Since last summer, he has refused to meet him or test alongside him because he believes that the EPA testing plan already gives an objective and valid idea of ​​the level of contamination existing in the community. He added that testing at individual locations around the city, as Smith does, will not produce useful data if it is not part of a larger sampling plan.

Smith said he applied Flint's lessons by making sure his scientific advisers review all his data before releasing it directly to the public himself.

He argues that while his test results aren't perfect, they should prompt further investigation by the EPA.

“Basically, I’m calling for more testing,” Smith said. “I'm not trying to cause more panic. My point is that it would be very easy for the EPA to just test the garlic and report it. We find no evidence that they ever tested residents' vegetable crops.

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