Chemical Aftermath
The demons that sunk into the soils and spoiled the water
By Marie Ronnander with art by sana ikramuddin
Before asbestos was a fear-striking carcinogen, it was hailed as a miraculous flame-resistant super fiber. The same lead that poisoned the water supply of Flint, Micchigan, used to be Queen Elizabeth I’s makeup. Chemistry is an ever-nebulous world full of Schrodinger's cats and unanswered postulates. What we do know about the chemical spill of East Palestine is that each chemical split was well-established as dangerous..
Acyl chloride, butyl acrylate, and isobutylene are amongst the toxins sloshed onto the earth after the train ran off course. To any life science major, these names bring back a reverie of organic chemistry nomenclature.They sound harmless enough, but each chemical brings about a slew of intimidating symptoms when exposed to. Gaseous butyl acrylate blisters the skin while isobutylene induces intense nausea and brain fog. But what happens when these pollutants build up in our environment?
The government's hope is to avoid this possibility entirely. The area’s soil was sucked up and forced under a controlled burn in the hopes of avoiding a massive explosion. The opportunity cost however, is unknown. Burned acyl chloride readily transforms to phosgene—a nasty little chemical that has the ability to cause respiratory failure in just a few sniffs. Though the area has been cleared, there’s fear that the vinyl chloride could stick around in homes and transform with the on-switch of an oven.
The truth is we don’t know how this spill will play out. How these chemicals interact with the environment is under-researched. Citizens are complaining of pungent chloride-like fumes while at least 43,000 animals have been reported dead. Flint, MI, suffered their first casualties in 2015, and there are still pipes waiting to be replaced. The government is good at rapid response, but fails to follow through in the long-term.
Sources:
https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/23/us/east-palestine-ohio-train-derailment-timeline/index.html
https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/15/us/ohio-train-derailment-east-palestine-residents/index.html