Print Friendly and PDF

WATCH: The aftermath of the East Palestine, Ohio, toxic train derailment

Beyond Plastics captures the personal stories of residents and call for a federal ban on vinyl chloride.

Beyond Plastics, a project to end plastic pollution, released a short documentary featuring the stories of East Palestine, Ohio, residents after their lives were upended by a derailed train spilling toxic chemicals into their community.


The video, made by independent filmmaker Arman Dzidzovic, also features Dr. Terry Collins, a Carnegie Mellon University professor, who talks about the health risks from burning vinyl chloride, and Judith Enck, Beyond Plastics president and former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regional administrator under President Obama, who calls on the EPA to ban vinyl chloride.

Vinyl chloride was deemed a cancer-causing chemical in 1974 and banned in some products, but it remains widely used in drinking water pipes, building materials, some packaging and children’s toys. When burned, dioxins and other highly toxic chemicals are released.

Watch the video above and visit Beyond Plastics, where you can learn more about the dangers of vinyl chloride and sign their petition to ban the chemical.

Become a donor
Today's top news

Op-ed: A lingering Trump-era regulatory trick could push orcas, salmon to extinction

The Biden EPA and the Fish and Wildlife Service are not basing their pesticide risk assessments on the best-available independent science.

From our newsroom

Op-ed: Mourning family and climate change in the age of loss and damage

Grief is a consequence of the natural cycle of life and death, but it can be exacerbated by negligence and unjust approaches to climate change.

Get phthalates, parabens out of the bathroom drawer to reduce breast cancer risk: Study

Women who switched to paraben- and phthalate- free shampoos, lotions, soaps and deodorants had fewer cancer-associated changes to breast tissue cells.

LISTEN: Robbie Parks on climate justice and mental health

“It’s not just moving people around that’s going to solve public health disasters.”

WATCH: Are plastics a threat to national security?

Pete Myers explores the troubling link.

Every stage of plastic production and use is harming human health: Report

New report recommends the United Nations Global Plastics Treaty significantly reduce plastic use through aggressive bans and caps, and closer examination of toxic ingredients.