Disaster in East Palestine
Disaster in East Palestine
Florida mRNA health alert, Scotland's First Minister resigns, stablecoins under attack, Nikki Haley Presidential run, and the escalating crisis in Ohio
Rounding the Earth
The following article serves as the show notes for the video presentation of the same name released through the Rounding the News series, presented by Rounding the Earth. It is provided to allow RTE listeners to verify my sources and conduct their own due diligence, and is intended as a supplement to the video. As such, I highly encourage readers of this Substack to watch the full episode and support Rounding the Earth, whose founder Mathew Crawford has provided me the platform and resources to conduct this important work. Thank you, Rounding the Earth!
Hello, everyone! My name is Liam Sturgess and I am your host for this weekly news roundup, presented by Rounding the Earth. Before we get started, I want to remind everyone that you can support the show by sending us a Rumble Rant, a tip on Rokfin, or LBRY tokens on Odysee. Even more importantly, I invite you to join us over on our Locals community, where I have posted the show notes for today's episode along with the links to watch the show live on Rumble, Rokfin and Odysee.
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Without further ado, let’s get started!
Florida Issues Health Alert on mRNA injections
The Florida Department of Health has issued a health alert from the state’s Surgeon General, Joseph Ladapo, regarding safety concerns around mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine products. Published on February 15, 2023, the press release noted that “[i]n Florida alone, there was a 1,700% increase in VAERS reports after the release of the COVID-19 vaccine, compared to an increase of 400% in overall vaccine administration for the same time period.”1
“To support transparency, the State of Florida reminds health care providers to accurately communicate the risks and benefits of all clinical interventions to their patients, including those associated with the COVID-19 vaccine as additional risks continue to be identified and disclosed to the public.”
Scotland’s First Minister Resigns
Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland, has resigned as the country’s head of state. According to Politico, Sturgeon “made the shock announcement at a hastily arranged press conference Wednesday from her official residence in Edinburgh.”2
The official reason given for Sturgeon’s unexpected departure is “the personal toll of the job and a desire to “free” her party to pick its own Scottish independence strategy”. On the other hand, The Atlantic shares the opposing perspective that the resignation “wasn’t exactly a surprise” due to Sturgeon and her party’s dropping poll ratings.3 In the opinion of the author, Helen Lewis, Sturgeon had found herself digging deeper into controversy related to her proposed "Gender Recognition Reform Bill", which saw her dismiss her political opponents by choosing to "recast as matters of patriotism or morality" any opposition to her agenda.
Scotland is the latest in a line of nations whose leaders have stepped down in the last couple of years, following Boris Johnson and Liz Truss in the United Kingdom, Mario Draghi in Italy, Kaja Kallas in Estonia, and most recently, Jacinda Ardern in New Zealand. This is in addition to shakeups in high-level positions within governments including Ukraine’s recent purge as a result of an ongoing corruption investigation.
Crypto Stablecoins Targeted by U.S. Regulators
Stablecoins, cryptocurrency tokens whose value is designed to remain pegged to the United States Dollar (USD), have come under heavy fire from American financial regulators this week.
On Monday, blockchain company Paxos announced it had been instructed by the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) to cease issuing units of BUSD, which stands for “Binance United States Dollar”.4
While Binance (the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange) licenses its brand to the product, the stablecoin itself is a product developed by Paxos - a fact that Binance was all too happy to make clear in the wake of the news. As reported by CoinDesk:5
“BUSD is not issued by Binance,” [Changpeng Zhao, Binance CEO] said during a Twitter Spaces on Tuesday. “We have an agreement to let them [Paxos] use our brand, but that's not something that we created.”
“With BUSD gone, BUSD slowly winding down over time, we will will continue to work with more stablecoin issuers or creators,” Zhao added, citing existing support for other stablecoins such as USD coin (USDC) and tether (USDT).
Crypto.com, another leading cryptocurrency service, sent out an email to its clients instructing them to withdraw their BUSD from the platform by March 16, 2023.
Meanwhile, PayPal has reportedly halted development of its own stablecoin in response to “increasing regulatory scrutiny of the cryptocurrency sector.”6
Nikki Haley Announces 2024 Presidential Run
Nikki Haley, the former United States Ambassador to the United Nations, has announced her bid for the Republican nomination for the 2024 Presidential Election.7 She joins a race with only one other confirmed candidate: former President Donald Trump (R). Others expected (or heavily rumoured) to be soon announcing their candidacy include President Joe Biden (D), former National Security Officer John Bolton (R), Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg (D), and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R).8
Disaster in East Palestine
You may not be aware, but a terrible disaster has occurred in the state of Ohio — and it’s nowhere near resolved.
Train derails with hazardous materials onboard
On February 3, a 150-car train derailed near the village of East Palestine, Ohio. The train, run by a company called Norfolk Southern, was carrying “hazardous chemicals and other materials” when it hurtled off the tracks and crashed, following an alleged “catastrophic mechanical failure.”9
According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), “38 rail cars derailed and a fire ensued which damaged an additional 12 cars.” Of those 50 total cars involved, 11 were carrying hazardous materials.10 Five cars were carrying vinyl chloride, a colourless gas used in making plastic products, which has been the primary focus of news reports.11
Evacuation order for Ohio and Pennsylvania
Three days later, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro issued a mandatory evacuation order for a two square-mile area around the crash site. According to a press release from DeWine's office, the United States Department of Defense (DoD) and Ohio National Guard had provided "new modeling information" surrounding the risk for these areas, and that the "vinyl chloride contents of five rail cars [were] currently unstable and could potentially explode, causing deadly disbursement of shrapnel and toxic fumes."12
Despite the concern over the dispersal of toxic fumes, Norfolk Southern decided that the best way to handle the 3-day-old emergency was “a controlled release of the vinyl chloride” into a trench, which would then be lit on fire. The Governor warned that as a direct result of the chemical release, residents in the red affected area (as indicated on an attached Google Earth screenshot) were “facing grave danger of death,” while those in the yellow were “at a high risk of severe injury, including skin burns and serious lung damage.”
“The process involves using a small charge to blow a hole in the cars, allowing the material to go into a trench and burning it off before it’s released in the air,” according to reporting from the Associated Press, citing Norfolk Southern spokesman Scott Deutsch. The logic was that no matter what, the chemicals were going to combust, and it was a matter of attempting to control how the process occurred, ostensibly to reduce the damage to the environment and living beings in the area.
Reporters heard “a loud boom”, presumably as the trench was ignited.13 “Flames and black smoke billowed high into the sky from the derailment site late in the afternoon, about an hour after authorities said the controlled release would begin,” continued the AP.
Health risks from the chemicals
“Officials warned the controlled burn would send phosgene and hydrogen chloride into the air. Phosgene is a highly toxic gas that can cause vomiting and breathing trouble and was used as a weapon in World War I.”
Indeed, phosgene was a chemical weapon deployed in the trench warfare of World War I, and is described by the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs as “a choking agent.”14 It is listed as a Schedule 3 toxic chemical in the Chemical Weapons Convention, meaning its transport and destruction are both highly-regulated.15
But phosgene wasn’t the substance actually being transported by the train. Based on a list published by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),16 the chemicals of concern affected by the crash (in addition to the aforementioned vinyl chloride) include ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, a chemical described by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as “highly flammable” which “can cause serious or permanent injury.”
Another on the list is ethylhexyl acrylate, which — if I’m reading PubChem correctly — is known to affect humans at the genetic level. Specifically, the chemical causes increased expression of messenger RNA (mRNA) associated with four different genes: GCLM, ATF3, CXCL8 and DNAJB4.17 GCLM is related to the body’s regulation of an antioxidant called glutathione, healthy levels of which are required to maintain cardiovascular health and to combat oxidative stress.18 The ATF3 gene plays a role in the life cycle of a cell, including apoptosis (programmed cell death) and the immune response to pathogens and cancers.1920 The protein coded by the CXCL8 gene is “a major mediator of the inflammatory response,” playing a role in heart disease, viral infection, cancerous tumour growth and the permeability of blood vessels. More of the protein results in “increased severity of multiple disease outcomes (e.g. sepsis).21 Finally, DNAJB4 codes for a heat-shock protein that acts as a tumour suppressor.22 Ethylhexyl acrylate also reduces the expression of DIO1, DIO2 and DIO3 proteins, which can result in thyroid problems.23 Not to mention that inhaling the chemical irritates the respiratory tract.24
Butyl acrylate is another flammable liquid that was spilled and burned up following the crash. The chemical causes burning to the skin and eyes upon contact, and can lead to skin allergy. When inhaled, it can lead to permanent lung damage along with headache, dizziness, nausea and vomiting.25
Finally, benzene, described as “highly flammable and volatile”, is potentially fatal if inhaled. Horrifyingly, it may also cause genetic defects and cancer.26
Media Blackout
As the massive black cloud pumped itself into the atmosphere, reports started to emerge that the reality on the ground was far worse than appeared through the media.
Sharing several horrifying pictures of a quickly-blacking sky, an account called “UAE Exotic Falconry & Finance” tweeted that “there’s a news blackout and the police are beating reporters and camera people and dragging em (sic)”.27
During a February 8 news conference held by Governor DeWine, a reporter named Evan Lambert was tackled to the ground and arrested.28 He was released later that evening, with charges of disorderly conduct and criminal trespassing dropped.29 By all accounts, the basis of the arrest was simply that Lambert was "talking when the governor was talking" - the Governor himself apologized to Lambert and expressed regret that the incident occurred.
As reluctant as I am to side with a “fact check”, I have to agree that the event has been widely covered in media of all kinds. But simply covering the event doesn’t mean the real issues are being discussed.
Dioxins
To quote the Substack article below: “It's not just what was in the tanker cars. It's what happens when they burn and combine.”30
According to Eric Coppolino, the piece being excluded from all mainstream reporting on the disaster is the presence of a class of chemicals called dioxins. Dioxins are a group of chemicals which, as explained by the World Health Organization, are “highly toxic and can cause reproductive and developmental problems, damage the immune system, interfere with hormones and also cause cancer.”31 Coppolino continues:
There were reportedly 14 tanker cars full of vinyl chloride, a precursor to polyvinyl chloride — that is, vinyl. Burning vinyl is the most serious source of dioxin in the environment — whether from trash incinerators, house fires or chemical spills.
While vinyl chloride is a precursor chemical to making PVC, any time chlorinated compounds burn there will be dioxins created. And dioxin is a manufacturing byproduct of any manufacturing process involving chlorine, from “disinfectants” to the bleaching of paper. There was plenty of dioxin in those tanker cars before they caught fire.
This mess of 14 tanker cars (really, many more, but 14 had vinyl chloride) was then set on fire by the government, apparently to make it easier to clear the railroad tracks. This was the worst possible decision. It has turned many, many miles into what should be no-man’s land. But I have not heard of one single test for dioxin being done.
Thankfully, others have picked up on this and are adding their own insights. Dr. Syed Haider opened his article on the subject by pointing out that out of all the absurd and headline-grabbing events over the last several weeks, including Project Veritas’ Pfizer exposé and subsequent internal coup d’état, enigmatic spy balloons over North America, UFOs, suspicious preparations for a subsequent deadly earthquake in Turkey, and Seymour Hersh’s bombshell Nord Stream report, nothing is more important “than taking care of the people impacted by one of the worst chemical spills in history.”32
When vinyl dioxide burns, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it “decomposes to hydrogen chloride, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and traces of phosgene.”33 Hydrogen chloride and phosgene have been discussed in headlines, but somehow carbon monoxide (CO1) and dioxide (CO2) managed to avoid mention.
But as Haider emphasizes, the burning of the vinyl dioxide directly caused the creation of dioxins. Professor Neil Donahue of Carnegie Mellon University shares his concern, quoted by the Associated Press as saying, “Vinyl chloride is bad, dioxins are worse as carcinogens and that comes from burning.”34
The disaster as it stands now is almost definitely just the tip of the iceberg. As shown in the above watershed map from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, the waterways connected to the Ohio River Basin are at risk of spreading this collection of chemical weapons into the drinking water supply of the entirety of middle America, as far north as the Canadian border and all the way down to Texas. Many states in between will be affected, and the health consequences sound as though they will be disastrous.
Solutions will come, and I regret having to focus so heavily on the bad news. In the meantime, the most pressing issue I see is to raise awareness that the event even happened in the first place, as the news has somehow managed to avoid making it to large chunks of the general public.
Further investigation
Finally, I will leave you with two areas that require further investigation.
In the weeks leading up to the train crash, East Palestine launched a new emergency medical response program based around the MyID wearable health data system.35 Given the timing of the rollout and subsequent health crisis, it is well worth looking into the circumstances around both the town’s involvement with the program as well as the ownership and interests of the company behind MyID.
Then, there’s the crazy coincidence surrounding the 2022 Netflix movie, White Noise, which seems to have predicted the events of train crash and subsequent chemical disaster.36 Stranger yet, the movie was filmed in East Palestine, and several background performers (extras) who worked on the film are now living out the events of the film in real life.37
WEIRD.
That’s all for this week, ladies and gentlemen. If you’ve enjoyed the show, please drop us a Rumble Rant if you’re watching on Rumble, or a tip on Rokfin/Odysee. And most importantly, before you leave, go sign up as a member of our Locals community at www.RoundingtheEarth.locals.com. You can even snag yourself a free month of premium support using the promo code included on the pinned comment, after which you can keep us going and gain access to behind-the-main-scenes discussions that we’re keeping within our more intimate community.
I have been Liam Sturgess, and you can find me at www.LiamSturgess.com, or on Twitter @TheLiamSturgess. See you next week!
Communications Office. (2023, February 15). Health Alert on mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine Safety. Florida Department of Health. https://web.archive.org/web/20230216173659/https://www.floridahealth.gov/newsroom/2023/02/20230215-updated-health-alert.pr.html
McDonald, A. (2023, February 15). Scotland’s Nicola Sturgeon quits. Politico. https://archive.ph/lNT2I
Lewis, H. (2023, February 15). What Happens When Politicians Brush Off Hard Questions About Gender. The Atlantic. https://archive.ph/nNVEO
Toh, M. (2023, February 14). US regulator orders crypto firm to stop minting Binance stablecoin | CNN Business. CNN. https://archive.ph/CTFYi
Schickler, J. (2023, February 14). Binance CEO Distances Himself From BUSD Stablecoin as Regulators Act. CoinDesk. https://archive.ph/dglyW
Puig, A. (2023, February 14). PayPal reportedly halts work on stablecoin offering. FinTech Futures. https://web.archive.org/web/20230215041034/https://www.fintechfutures.com/2023/02/paypal-reportedly-halts-work-on-stablecoin-offering/
Video: Nikki Haley delivers her first 2024 presidential campaign pitch | CNN Politics. (2023, February 15). CNN. https://web.archive.org/web/20230217073450/https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2023/02/15/nikki-haley-first-campaign-pitch-ath-sot-vpx.cnn
Alvord, K. (2023, February 14). Who Will Run for President in 2024? Rumored Republican and Democratic Candidates. People Magazine. https://people.com/politics/2024-presidential-candidates/
Graziosi, G. (2023, February 15). Train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio: Everything we know. The Independent. https://web.archive.org/web/20230215153535/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/ohio-train-derailment-2023-chemicals-b2282800.html
NTSB Issues Investigative Update on Ohio Train Derailment. (2023, February 14). National Transportation Safety Board. https://web.archive.org/web/20230215222209/https://www.ntsb.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/NR20230214.aspx
Zhong, R., & Einhorn, C. (2023, February 14). Health and Environmental Fears Remain After Ohio Derailment and Inferno. The New York Times. https://web.archive.org/web/20230215192950/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/14/climate/ohio-train-derailment-chemical-spill-health.html
East Palestine Update: Evacuation Area Extended, Controlled Release of Rail Car Contents Planned for 3:30 p.m. (2023, February 6). Office of the Governor of the State of Ohio. https://web.archive.org/web/20230215092523/https://governor.ohio.gov/media/news-and-media/east-palestine-update-evacuation-area-extended-controlled-release-of-rail-car-contents-planned-for-3-30-pm-02062023
Mannie, K. (2023, February 13). Ohio train derailment, chemical leak causes chaos: What, exactly, is going on? Global News. https://archive.ph/AngIc
Chemical Weapons. United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs. Retrieved January 24, 2023, from https://web.archive.org/web/20230124235335/https://www.un.org/disarmament/wmd/chemical/
Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction (p. 55). (1993). Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. https://web.archive.org/web/20221101211329/https://www.opcw.org/sites/default/files/documents/CWC/CWC_en.pdf
TRAIN 32N - EAST PALESTINE. Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved February 15, 2023, from https://web.archive.org/web/20230215141439/https://response.epa.gov/sites/15933/files/TRAIN%2032N%20-%20EAST%20PALESTINE%20-%20derail%20list%20Norfolk%20Southern%20document.pdf
2-Ethylhexyl acrylate. PubChem. Retrieved February 15, 2023, from https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/2-Ethylhexyl-acrylate#section=Chemical-Target-Interactions
Weldy, C. S., Luttrell, I. P., White, C. C., Morgan-Stevenson, V., Cox, D. P., Carosino, C. M., Larson, T. V., Stewart, J. A., Kaufman, J. D., Kim, F., Chitaley, K., & Kavanagh, T. J. (2013). Glutathione (GSH) and the GSH synthesis geneGclmmodulate plasma redox and vascular responses to acute diesel exhaust inhalation in mice. Inhalation Toxicology, 25(8), 444–454. https://doi.org/10.3109/08958378.2013.801004
Jadhav, K., & Zhang, Y. (2017). Activating transcription factor 3 in immune response and metabolic regulation. Liver Research, 1(2), 96–102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.livres.2017.08.001
Thompson, M. R., Xu, D., & Williams, B. R. G. (2009). ATF3 transcription factor and its emerging roles in immunity and cancer. Journal of Molecular Medicine, 87(11), 1053–1060. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00109-009-0520-x
CXCL8 Gene. (2023, January 10). GeneCards. https://web.archive.org/web/20230215233040/https://www.genecards.org/cgi-bin/carddisp.pl?gene=CXCL8
DNAJB4 Gene. (2023, January 10). GeneCards. https://www.genecards.org/cgi-bin/carddisp.pl?gene=DNAJB4
Bianco, A. C., & da Conceição, R. R. (2018). The Deiodinase Trio and Thyroid Hormone Signaling. Methods in Molecular Biology, 67–83. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-7902-8_8
Zhong, R. (2023, February 15). What Toxic Chemicals Were Aboard the Derailed Train in Ohio? The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/15/climate/ohio-train-fire-toxic-chemicals.html
Right to Know Hazardous Substance Fact Sheet - BUTYL ACRYLATE. New Jersey Department of Health. Retrieved February 15, 2023, from https://web.archive.org/web/20230215235151/https://www.nj.gov/health/eoh/rtkweb/documents/fs/0278.pdf
Benzene. (2023, February 11). PubChem. https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Benzene
UAE Exotic Falconry & Finance [@FalconryFinance]. (2023, February 10). “Ohio right now That’s a giant cloud of polyvinyl chloride and a ton of other bad chemicals The local police blew it up like a beached whale, now megatoxins are Chernobyling Ohio and there’s a news blackout and the police are beating reporters and camera people and dragging em”. [Tweet]. Twitter. http://archive.today/2023.02.13-011033/
Koster, B., Vadaj, R., & Hebebr, M. (2023, February 14). Ohio Governor DeWine on reporter arrested at last week’s press conference. Cleveland 19. https://www.cleveland19.com/2023/02/14/ohio-governor-dewine-reporter-arrested-last-weeks-press-conference/
Hauser, C. (2023, February 15). Charges Dismissed for Reporter Arrested While Covering Ohio Train Derailment. The New York Times. https://archive.ph/iGgyu
Coppolino, E. F. (2023, February 13). East Palestine, Ohio train wreck: It’s the dioxin. Substack. https://archive.ph/js1Fk
Dioxins and their effects on human health. (2016, October 4). World Health Organization. https://archive.ph/Ilo43
Haider, S. (2023, February 14). Train Wreck: Dioxins From Vinyl Chloride. Substack. https://archive.ph/JSnh9
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. (2014, October 21). Vinyl Chloride | Medical Management Guidelines | Toxic Substance Portal. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://archive.ph/1xrxP
Peterson, B., & Borenstein, S. (2023, February 8). Burning vinyl chloride keeps residents away from train derailment site two days later. York Dispatch. https://web.archive.org/web/20230209002614/https://www.yorkdispatch.com/story/news/2023/02/08/burning-vinyl-chloride-keeps-residents-away-from-train-derailment-site-two-days-later/69885768007/
Sess, D. (2023, January 26). East Palestine weeks away from launching new “MyID” medical service. WKBN. https://archive.ph/XCEi7
Chilton, L. (2023, February 16). Netflix movie White Noise “predicted” train derailment in Ohio. The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/white-noise-netflix-movie-about-train-derailment-b2283419.html
Cloutier, A. (2023, February 13). Film to real life: East Palestine derailment reflects Ohio movie. WETM. https://archive.ph/1OwMm