The accident most just like what’s occurring now in Ohio occurred in November 2012, when a practice owned by Conrail derailed over a bridge, inflicting 4 rail automobiles to fall into the Mantua Creek in Paulsboro, New Jersey. One of many automobiles contained some 23,000 gallons of vinyl chloride—the identical chemical launched in East Palestine—and a tank was breached, inflicting the chemical to spill into the air and surrounding waterways. Lots of of residents had been evacuated, and dozens sought medical therapy after the publicity.

In 2014, the New Jersey Division of Well being issued a report surveying the impacts of the spill on practically 2,000 residents’ well being, discovering that one in 10 individuals within the survey sought therapy for signs together with complications, nostril and throat irritation, coughing, respiratory points, dizziness, and nausea.

“It isn’t recognized whether or not there might be long-term, non-cancer dangerous well being results from the publicity to vinyl chloride that occurred in Paulsboro,” the report said. “Nonetheless, medical administration pointers from [the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry] point out that such results are unlikely in individuals who recovered from their signs.”