Los Angeles Times

Commentary: Another toxic train derailment will happen if we don’t rein in plastics

Smoke rises from a derailed cargo train in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 4, 2023.

Images of dead fish floating in murky water and menacing plumes of gray smoke are haunting the nation’s front pages. Interviews with distressed residents are interspersed with exasperated talking heads on our television screens. More than month after the train derailment disaster in East Palestine, Ohio, America continues to bear witness to the community’s suffering.

Though any fiery train wreck is hazardous, this one was particularly catastrophic given the chemicals onboard. Chief among them was cancer-causing vinyl chloride gas, which officials intentionally released into the surrounding air to avoid an explosion. Residents were

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