Residents near US train derailment site skeptical of official tests, seek out their own: NYT

NEW YORK - Residents living in East Palestine of the US Ohio state are seeking independent tests of the air quality around after a freight train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed in the region this month.

The moves reflect residents' deep-seated mistrust of government screenings of toxic chemicals and fears of long-term effects from the train derailment, reported The New York Times.

State and federal officials have said repeatedly that they have yet to detect dangerous levels of chemicals in the air or municipal water, citing preliminary data from hundreds of homes in the town of roughly 4,700 people.

Teams of experts from top environmental and health agencies have been fanning out across the region to test whether chemicals carried by the Norfolk Southern train or burned off days after the derailment have contaminated the air or water.

But local residents, especially those on the outskirts of East Palestine near where the train derailed, continue to report a lingering stench of chemicals in some parts of town and have found little comfort in the assurances in light of the rashes and headaches they have experienced, said the report, citing store owner Ms. Guglielmo, who paid 900 US dollars for an independent contractor to analyze the air in the store, and was planning to pay to test her inventory of silicone bands.