EPA orders testing for dioxins at crash site

After weeks of questions about contamination associated with a train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday ordered rail company Norfolk Southern to test the area for dioxins, a dangerous and persistent class of pollutants created when plastic is burned. The train that crashed there Feb. 3 was carrying chemicals used to make plastics.

A chorus of academics, environmentalists and residents have been raising alarm about potential dioxin contamination because, days after the derailment, authorities seeking to avoid an explosion purposefully released and burned the chemical vinyl chloride, a key component of PVC plastic.