Derailment exposes slash-and-burn governance: China Daily editorial

How will the derailment of a train carrying hazardous chemicals affect the local environment and the lives of local residents in East Palestine, Ohio? Did Norfolk Southern, the company involved, do the right thing venting and burning carcinogenic chemicals from the crashed train cars? Will it be a "complex environmental disaster" as some have claimed?

Although none of these questions have yet been answered, the local governor's office announced on Feb 8, five days after the accident caused by a broken axle, that residents evacuated are permitted to return home after air quality samples measured contaminants below levels of concern. The local water treatment plant was also quoted as saying that it had not seen any adverse effects.

However, local residents have complained of headaches and feeling sick since the derailment. Some residents are reported to have said that fish and frogs were dying in local streams and people have shared images of dead animals and said that they smelled chemical odors around town.

The chemicals in the cars included vinyl chloride, butyl acrylate and ethylhexyl acrylate. Vinyl chloride is classified as a human carcinogen, and acute exposure to high levels in the air has been linked to central nervous system effects, while chronic exposure has been shown to cause liver damage, including a rare form of liver cancer, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. When vinyl chloride burns it decomposes into hydrogen chloride and phosgene, according to the International Programme on Chemical Safety. Phosgene is highly poisonous and was used extensively during World War I as a choking agent, while hydrogen chloride is irritating and corrosive to any tissue with which it comes into contact.

That the US Environmental Protection Agency said that it had not detected any hazardous substances at levels of concern during or after the crash is in sharp contrast to how local residents feel and a lawsuit has been filed calling for medical screenings and related care to be paid for anyone living within a 48-kilometer radius of the crash site.

That a reporter was pushed to the ground, handcuffed and arrested for trespassing while covering a news conference about the derailment also calls into question the transparency of the information being provided. Although the reporter was released after being held for five hours, it makes people feel that there is something fishy about the way the hazardous chemicals were disposed of and it has triggered suspicions that things are being held back about the long-lasting impact on local residents' health and the local environment.

There seems to be a sharp contrast between how enthusiastic US politicians are about the so-called threats from other countries and their lack of concern for the safety of American people from hazards at home. It is also preposterous for the world's sole superpower to habitually point fingers at other countries in the name of human rights while its poor governance at home makes things increasingly hard for its own people.