Three weeks after a train derailment spewed a mushroom cloud of cancer-causing chemicals into the sky over East Palestine, Ohio, the CDC has finally arrived to investigate. The team of 19, which includes both epidemiologists and environmental scientists, has been tasked conducting a large-scale survey to assess the symptoms currently affecting residents and get an idea of the risks they may face in the future. The researchers are looking to gather data on topics like “demographics, where the residents are living, what type of health effects they might be experiencing, and trying to come up with a timeline of when they might have been in the area when the incident happened,” according to Jill Shugart, a high-ranking environmental health researcher. The task is “like putting a puzzle together” to determine the true impacts of the catastrophe, as residents remain afflicted by coughs, headaches, nausea, and a host of other unexplained symptoms and worry for their long-term health. Joe Biden said on Friday he has no plans to visit the site of the toxic train crash.
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