EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — Many people in East Palestine remain concerned about their health after last year’s train derailment, but many are also concerned about their pets.
A study by the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School is drawing blood from East Palestine dogs to test chemical exposure.
“My family’s home is 1,200 feet from where those fires were burning, 1,800 feet from the point of derailment,” resident Lonnie Miller said.
Miller brought her dog, Chevy, in for testing.
“She has lumps that she did not have a year and a half ago,” said Miller.
This study is meant to help detect health effects in dogs, which could act as an early warning sign for health effects in humans.
“We could understand chemical exposures in dogs that might lead to health effects. That might act as an environmental sentinel for humans since things happen faster in dogs,” said Frances Chen, a researcher and assistant professor at the Chan Medical School.
Chen said that Saturday’s blood draw is part of a larger ongoing study.
“After the train derailment, we sent out these dog tags, and they are basically passive sampling tags that act as a cell and they can pick up different chemicals in the air,” Chen said.
These tags can read 1500 different types of chemicals. Miller said she wanted her dog to be a part of this study to help any people who might be affected by chemical exposure in the future.
“It’s impacted every single part of our lives—every single part of our lives,” Miller said. “This disaster has infiltrated every part, right down to our pets. They don’t have a voice so we have to be a voice for them.”
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