Editor’s Note:

The train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio of the US on February 3 that unleashed highly toxic chemicals into the air, water and earth have left local residents fearing for  their lives and aggrieved about how the government and the rail company, Norfolk Southern, have handled the aftermath of the accident.  

In her I-Talk show, Global Times (GT) reporter Wang Wenwen interviewed Candice DeSanzo (DeSanzo), an East Palestine resident who and her kids suffered enormously after the derailment accident. “What I would want from the Chinese media is don’t let us be forgotten, because that is my biggest fear with the media and the US,” she said.

GT: After the accident, how is the water and air different from before? What happened to you and your kids?

DeSanzo: We left our house on February 3. We decided to shelter in place when we heard that they were going to do the controlled burn. We left. A few days later, they told us it would be safe to return to our homes. So we came back. And it was fine. The first night we got home, I did notice a strong smell in the air when we got closer to getting into town. I woke up the next morning and I noticed that my 1-year-old-son’s voice was really worse. From 24 to 48 hours after that, everybody in my family started having symptoms, including my animals.

The first day home, I bathed myself in the water and brushed my teeth with the water, I’m not bathing my children in the water. After I was told the water was safe, I gave them a bath. And they broke out in a horrific rash all over their bodies. I see multiple other residents whose children are getting rashes also. I develop multiple canker sores inside of my mouth. I’ve never had a canker sore in my entire life. 

I definitely believe that there’s something going on with the water, even though it’s testing OK. I don’t know if they’re failing to test for the chemicals that they should be. I’m not a scientist. All I know is what I’m seeing with my own eyes and feeling in my own body. 

As far as the air, there are certain times today where the air seems absolutely fine. There’s other time of the day where a smell will come through. It is like a burning, plastic, chlorine, sweet type of smell. As soon as I can actually smell that terrible odor, I feel that my symptoms that I’m having and my children’s symptoms ramp up by three. 

And the most ominous thing is that it seems the smell gets awful once the sun goes down. And it makes many of us residents question what they are doing down there at night that is causing