East Palestine, Ohio, became a national symbol of fear and mistrust after a train carrying toxic chemicals derailed, resulting in a massive black plume filling the sky. Two years later, how are residents of this small community faring? Is their soil, air, and water truly safe?

In this episode, we meet two women who chose collaboration over conflict: Elizabeth Frost of MAHA, Ohio, and Dr. Nicole Deziel of the Yale School of Public Health. The pair met through our podcast and teamed up — Elizabeth working on the ground to connect with residents, and Nicole, along with partners including Ohio Valley Allies, securing an NIH grant to study East Palestine’s water as part of a larger research effort led by the University of Kentucky. Joining the conversation is Stuart Day, an area resident, member of Ohio Valley Allies, and community partner on the research team.

How are a grassroots MAHA advocate and a Yale public health scientist bridging the divides that define so much of our nation’s health debate today? And most importantly, what are researchers discovering that could help address residents’ concerns and help East Palestine move forward?

Hosts:

Brinda Adhikari

Tom Johnson

Dr. Maggie Bartlett

Dr. Mark Abdelmalek

Guests:

Elizabeth Frost: grassroots organizer for the MAHA movement in Ohio; the Ohio State director for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s presidential campaign;  is a co-founder of Independent Force Consulting

Dr. Nicole Deziel: Associate Professor in Environmental Health Sciences at the Yale School of Public Health & co-Director of the Yale Center of Perinatal, Pediatric, & Environmental Epidemiology.

Stuart Day: community partner with Ohio Valley Allies; co-creator and executive producer of Exposure Podcast, investigating environmental health issues in the region (Link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/exposure/id1765728709)

John Klar: a former attorney who now operates a small farm in Vermont, is a writer for The MAHA Report, a popular newsletter, and a big supporter of Secretary Kennedy’s vision

Participants in the East Palestine research:
The Yale-based proposal was led by Dr. Nicole Deziel and Professor Michelle Bell from the Yale School of the Environment, and involved a broad team of researchers and community partners. The awarded NIH grant formally includes Nicole Deziel, Michelle Bell, Dr. James Saiers, a hydrogeologist at Yale, and Ohio Valley Allies (led by Jill Hunkler and Stuart Day).

At Yale, Drs. Deziel, Bell, and Saiers will assess water quality impacts using advanced hydrological modeling in partnership with Ohio Valley Allies and other community stakeholders such as MAHA Ohio.

The work is part of the newly formed East Palestine Investigation Consortium (EPIC), which will be led by the University of Kentucky (Dr. Erin Haynes) and also includes the University of Pittsburgh.

Resources:

https://research.uky.edu/news/uk-lead-federal-research-effort-on-east-palestine-health-impacts

https://www.epa.gov/east-palestine-oh-train-derailment

https://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/programs/east_palestine

https://www.ohiovalleyallies.org/campaigns 

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