The Trump administration will study the long-term effects on people of chemicals released after the 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.

Vice President JD Vance, who is from Ohio, joined Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and National Institutes of Health Director Jay Battacharya to announce the new initiative in a video posted to social media.

“I’ve been to East Palestine a number of times, and they’re very worried about, what are the long-term impacts of these chemicals in the water, in the air? What effect does it have on their kids and grandkids after 5 years, 10 years, 15 years of exposure?” said Vance.

“The crazy thing is, number one, we didn’t have a good answer to that question. Science had never actually tried to understand what the long-term exposure of these trace chemicals would do to people,” he continued. “And the second crazy thing is that as much as I tried as a United States senator to work with the Biden administration, they refused to do anything to actually study the effects of these long-term exposures on the people of East Palestine.”

After a Norfolk Southern train carrying toxic chemicals derailed and dumped its cargo, residents, officials, and investigators who resided or worked close to the spill reported having symptoms such as headaches, nausea, and dizziness. A controlled burn of the spill sent plumes of black smoke into the air, causing further concerns of what the smoke could do to nearby residents.

“The National Institutes of Health under my direction has launched a 5-year, $10 million research initiative to address health outcomes stemming from this calamity. This is the first large-scale, coordinated, multi-year federal study focused specifically on the long-term health impacts of the East Palestine disaster,” Kennedy said.

Bhattacharya added: “The purpose and goal of the NIH, the mission is to advance the health and well-being of the American people, and this is a concrete way that we’re going to do that. The NIH is working to ensure that the people of East Palestine and the surrounding communities are listened to, cared for, and they get the answers they deserve.”

I'm proud to announce with @SecKennedy and @NIHDirector_Jay that the Trump Administration is launching a program to study long-term health effects of the chemical spill in East Palestine, OH and help residents access the care they need.

East Palestine, we will never forget you. pic.twitter.com/zjJOnXZgoc

— JD Vance (@JDVance) June 19, 2025

The East Palestine spill was a calamity for the roughly 5,000- strong community and exploded into national news. The accident inspired rancor against the Biden administration and then-Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. Former President Joe Biden notably stayed away from East Palestine until the one-year anniversary of the disaster.

President Donald Trump, who was campaigning for president at the time, visited East Palestine within weeks of the disaster, bringing supplies to the reeling community.

Chloe Cole, a detransitioner who has been one of the most outspoken advocates against transgender drugs and surgeries for children, celebrated the Supreme Court’s decision Wednesday to uphold Tennessee’s law banning them.

The court ruled 6-3 in United States v. Skrmetti that Tennessee’s law prohibiting transgender surgeries, cross-sex hormones, and puberty blockers for children does not violate the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, a major win for conservative activists and parent groups.

“I believe that every child in America deserves the chance to grow up whole and to be given the time to do so, and this is a ruling that is going to allow children that time that I never was given,” Cole told The Daily Wire.

As a teen, Cole identified as male. She has since detransitioned, but she emphasized that she is still affected by the medical transgender interventions she received.

“I’m somebody who went through this as a child, and I’ve seen just how absolutely horrific it is not to just go through the trend, the process of a medical transition, but to do so while you’re still developing,” Cole said. “I was put on puberty blockers, a chemical castration drug to stop my puberty, and weekly testosterone injections at the age of 13. And at 15 years old, I underwent an irreversible surgery to remove my breasts. Absolutely no child should ever be given the chance to go through any of this because it is abusive, it’s detrimental to their development, and they deserve better.”

Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote a dissent to the court’s opinion that was joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

“I think it’s just incredible that there were three justices who voted no against reality, against the protection of American children, because it’s so clear that there is really not any evidence in support of performing these procedures on children under the age of 18,” Cole said.

Cole mentioned the recent review of transgender drugs and surgeries for children by the Department of Health and Human Services, as well as Britain’s famous Cass Review, both of which found that the treatments are not supported by evidence and are risky, especially for children.

Cole said she has been able to bring good out of the harm she suffered as a teen.

“It’s been an incredibly transformative experience for me to be able to turn what used to be a very traumatic and painful experience into something for the greater good, where I can help other children, help other families from going through what I did, and helping them to pull them out of it, and to be able to use my lived experience to convince lawmakers and these other people in power to do the right thing, to fight for their constituents, to fight for the families who they are taken care of, who they have responsibility over,” Cole said.

“I’m incredibly grateful to the attorney general for taking a stand for Tennessee families,” she added. “I’m grateful for the parents who have stood up for themselves and their communities, and for everybody who has fought alongside me, and for the other detransitioners who have also chosen to stand up to be brave in the face of major backlash and putting everything they have on the line.”

Tennessee lawmakers were inspired to introduce and pass the law following Daily Wire host Matt Walsh’s explosive investigation into Vanderbilt University’s gender clinic.

Tennessee’s law blocks all transgender medical treatments on children, including puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries. Doctors who offer these treatments risk losing their medical licenses and paying a $25,000 fine. The law also gives children and their families the right to sue if they were harmed by these treatments.

Thursday’s ruling is expected to have broad implications for the other state bans on the same transgender medical interventions for minors. More than 20 states with Republican-led legislatures have similar bans.

Both puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones come with serious health risks. Puberty blockers can affect bone growth and density and cause sexual dysfunction, voice damage, and infertility, among other issues. Cross-sex hormones can cause infertility, deadly blood clots, heart attacks, increased risk of both breast and ovarian cancers, liver dysfunction, worsening psychological illness, and other serious conditions.

Gender surgeries like phalloplasty, vaginoplasty, and double mastectomy are irreversible and often come with serious complications.