The university’s study, funded by a $50,000 state grant, will use artificial intelligence to look at the toxic, fiery derailment two years ago in East Palestine.
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — Researchers at Bowling Green State State University will use artificial intelligence to study the long-term health consequences of a disastrous train derailment that happened over two years ago in East Palestine, Ohio.
James Metcalf, an associate professor at the university who specializes in environmental toxicology research, will lead the research project, which is funded by a $50,000 state grant, according to a news release.
Ever since dozens of rail cars, some carrying hazardous materials, tore off the tracks on Feb. 3, 2023, in the small town next the Ohio-Pennsylvania state line, the potential impacts on the health of area residents have been a significant concern due to toxic materials blasting into the air and trickling into waterways. A lawsuit filed against Norfolk Southern railroad around the two-year anniversary alleges seven deaths have resulted from the incident.
BGSU’s research will use machine learning to build a data set to better inform responses to health issues far down the line, even subtle ones that take decades to crop up.
“If there is an adverse outcome, this would likely be very subtle, perhaps a slight increase in certain types of cancers,” Metcalf said in the release. “That may be very difficult to discern accurately by the human eye because humans evolved by looking for patterns in things. By using machine learning, we remove that inherent bias to look for patterns that may or may not be there.”
The cleanup of the catastrophe was contentious. Five of the cars that derailed were intentionally burned since they contained vinyl chloride and could explode, causing massive plumes of black smoke and evacuations.
The National Transportation Safety Board ruled that “vent-and-burn,” which spread toxic chemicals across the area, unnecessary. It’s one of the factors that could contribute to the health consequences BGSU is looking into.
“The idea is to establish baseline levels of disease in the population so in the future we can go back and interrogate this data to see if there have been changes,” Metcalf said. “The major reason to do this now is that if, in the future, something were to appear in the population, the methods are already in place to do the analysis quickly and accurately to give the people of East Palestine the medical treatment and support they may need.”
The National Institutes of Health also announced its own study into the health consequences.
Many a lawsuit has been filed in the wake of the derailment and the settlements have been large.
Norfolk Southern will pay $600 million as part of a class-action settlement it agreed to with the town’s residents.
Another lawsuit — $30 million — accuses Norfolk Southern of not living up to its promise to help the residents.
This article was published by Andrew Bailey on 2025-07-03 23:00:00
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