Doctor finds parallels between East Palestine symptoms, Gulf War illness

Two weeks after the train derailment in East Palestine, Dr. Beatrice Golomb remembers, federal and state officials were declaring the town safe.

This took her aback.

“We were a bit surprised by the messaging that seemed to say there wasn’t really a problem,” said Golomb, a University of California San Diego professor of medicine. “Absolutely if people were reporting health problems, there was a problem.”

Golomb spent decades studying symptoms of Gulf War veterans exposed to toxic chemical burn pits. Last year, she began researching the symptoms of East Palestine residents, through a study funded by a three-year grant from the National Institutes of Health.

The results are preliminary but striking.

Sixty percent of participants reported concentration problems and brain fog. Another 60% reported shortness of breath. More than a third reported diarrhea, which Golomb noted was also the most common gastrointestinal symptom in Gulf War veterans.

Golomb’s research doesn’t represent all East Palestine residents – just those who signed up for the study. Still, her expertise is invaluable for those who continue to experience symptoms and have few options for treatment, according to affected residents like Jami Wallace.

“She’s studied multiple chemical exposure before, and that’s exactly what we’re dealing with,” said Wallace, a former resident of East Palestine who relocated her family after the derailment. “We look at her as a ray of hope in the community.”

To Wallace and many others, Golomb is “someone that can give us answers for both ourselves and our children.”

More: Norfolk Southern, victims reach $600M settlement for 2023 East Palestine train derailment

More: A year after Ohio train derailment, families may have nowhere safe to go

New symptoms, Gulf War illness similarities, emerge more than a year post-derailment

Golomb said a significant percentage of study participants meet criteria for what's known as "Gulf War illness.”

“We are really seeing strong commonalities between the symptomatic profile reported in Gulf War veterans and what we’re seeing in East Palestine,” she said.

The burn pits where Gulf War veterans were exposed to fumes from burning chemicals mirror the vent and burn of toxic chemicals in East Palestine that followed the derailment.

More: Newly released videos of East Palestine derailment shows fireball, smoke in planned burn

State and local officials made the controversial decision to burn the chemicals in the tank cars to avoid what they thought would become a massive explosion. In the process, they exposed thousands of East Palestine residents to the chemicals through the air.

More than a year later, residents are still experiencing the consequences every day, Wallace said.

“We are seeing people become symptomatic that have never had symptoms before,” said Wallace. “Headaches, fatigue, muscle cramping.”

Troubled by the symptoms she’s seeing among friends and family, Wallace now works with Golomb’s UC San Diego lab as community liaison to recruit residents to the study.

“I think part of the issue is people think if they did not have symptoms, then they should not participate in the study,” said Wallace. “And in fact, we need everybody to participate.”

Full study participation is critical to capturing effects of the chemical exposure that residents are experiencing now, as well as any that may surface in the future.

Research requires building trust in East Palestine

In East Palestine, Golomb assumes the role of researcher, but also physician for residents seeking medical advice. She draws from her experience with treating veterans to do so.

During an April question and answer session on the study for residents, Golomb recommended that residents limit their chemical exposure moving forward, even to those in household cleaning products and pesticides.

The toxicity of these relatively mundane chemicals may be augmented by the residents’ chemical exposure from the derailment, according to Golomb, so she recommends using charcoal or vinegar instead.

The role of serving as a support for the people of East Palestine is a critical part of the process, she said.

“This is a setting where people are only going to want to participate if they feel like you care about them and are trying to help them,” said Golomb.

“In our work with Gulf War veterans, I think that population understands that we are their ally in their search for better health,” she said. “And they also are a population that had a lot of mistrust and a lot of cause for mistrust, because again, of early messaging denying that they were ill.”

She hopes that her research will help the residents of East Palestine and surrounding areas affected by the derailment to get more resources. Gulf War veterans, for example, are eligible for disability compensation from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

“This is not their fault that the chemicals rained down on them,” Golomb said.  “A disaster befell the community, and they’re not getting the help and resources that they need.”

For more information on Golomb's study, visit the Golomb Research Group’s website.  

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Residents near Ohio train derailment share symptoms with veterans