Train Derailment Ohio

Did a video shared widely in May 2025 authentically show President Donald Trump describing the 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio as "the largest environmental terror attack in world history" and "an inside job"? No, that's not true: Trump never made such remarks. The clip in question contained fake audio and edited mouth movements, both likely the products of…

Were the victims of an Arkansas plane crash on their way to East Palestine, Ohio, to test the water, soil and air after a train carrying toxic chemicals derailed there? No, that's not true: The five victims, employees of CTEH -- an environmental consulting firm -- were headed to a metals plant in Bedford, Ohio, according to a CTEH spokesman.…

Did a dog in Pennsylvania test positive for exposure to vinyl chloride, a chemical that officials have confirmed has leaked from the train derailment site near East Palestine, Ohio? No, that's not true: In an interview with Lead Stories, the veterinarian who treated the dog confirmed that, as of February 23, 2023, no test is available to determine whether a…

Did the Centers for Disease Control change the level of exposure considered lethal for vinyl chloride from 100 parts per million to 100,000 parts per million shortly before the February 3, 2023 train derailment and vinyl chloride spill near East Palestine, Ohio? Was this change the first such revision "since 1987"? No, that's not true: Vinyl chloride's toxicity profile on…

Is flesh-eating rain coming down in Nebraska as a result of the toxic chemical spill from the February 3, 2023, train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio? No, that's not true: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration told Lead Stories they have received no reports about flesh-eating rain in connection with the spill. A Nebraska climatologist told Lead Stories that, given…

Did the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shut down access to a website that showed a real map of "how far the deadly plume from East Palestine, OH had traveled by Feb. 8," as podcast host Stew Peters claimed? No, that's not true: As of February 17, 2023, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Hysplit Model website, which displays…

Does a photograph show a dozen birds that died in Kentucky from complications attributable to the February 2023 derailment of a train transporting toxic chemicals through neighboring Ohio? No, that's not true: While the photo is authentic, it was taken in April 2018 in Little Rock, Arkansas, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission confirmed to Lead Stories. The birds appeared…