MUSHROOMS can help clean up dioxin-tainted East Palestine, Ohio

02/28/2023 / By Belle Carter

The dioxin-contaminated ground zero at East Palestine, Ohio could be cleaned up using mushrooms – with an earlier instance proving its effectiveness.

Almost 15 years before the Feb. 3, 2023 train derailment and chemical spill that ravaged the small town, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) met with 90 people in April 2008. The meeting centered on cleaning up toxic hot spots in the former lumber mill in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Just like East Palestine, the area had been tainted with the highly hazardous dioxin – a “forever chemical” with no safe level of exposure.

The meeting was convened to discuss how to clean up dioxin after high levels of it were detected in five plots of soil within the 420-acre mill owned by Georgia-Pacific. Attendees suggested conducting a pilot study using mushrooms in a process called bioremediation. While bioremediation using mushrooms had been utilized previously to clean up oil spills, it has not been done to treat dioxin contamination.

Although the dioxin at the former site of the lumber mill isn’t the most polluted, there is “very good evidence” that chronic exposure to dioxin causes cancer, said Kimi Klein, a human health toxicologist with the DTSC.

Mycologist Paul Stamets explained how the technique will work during the April 2008 meeting. Putting straw and mushroom spawns on top of the toxic plots and leaving them alone to grow will degrade the chemicals. He told attendees that the spawn release a fine, threadlike web called mycelium that secretes enzymes acting “like little Pac-Mans that break down molecular bonds.”

Stamets suggested two dioxin-degrading mushroom species indigenous to Northern California for the endeavor – turkey tail mushrooms (Trametes versicolor) and oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus). T. versicolor has ruffled edges and are made into a medicinal tea, while the domed-top P. ostreatus is frequently found in Asian cuisine.

Norfolk Southern must pay for cleanup efforts at disaster site

According to analysts, the use of mushrooms to clean up the polluted soil in East Palestine may be considered. Eric Coppolino, an investigative reporter, has urged for an immediate total evacuation of the town as the burning of vinyl chloride that spilled from the derailed train created dioxin byproducts. (Related: Eric Coppolino and the Health Ranger call for the TOTAL EVACUATION of East Palestine due to extremely toxic “dioxin fallout” that will poison the land and crops for GENERATIONS.)

But regardless of whatever method used to clean up the spill, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reiterated that Norfolk Southern Railway must pay “for cleaning up the mess they created and for the trauma they’ve inflicted on this community.” The rail company owns the train involved in the accident and subsequent chemical spill.

EPA Administrator Michael Regan said Norfolk Southern would have to find and clean contaminated soil and water supplies and pay back the EPA for its own cleaning efforts, provide information online for residents and take part in public meetings at the EPA’s request. Otherwise, the rail company will face additional fines of up to $70,000 a day on top of earlier penalties.

Also at a joint news conference, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said his office had referred criminal charges against the rail firm to the state’s top prosecutor, who must now make a decision on whether to press charges. He was joined by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, who said Norfolk Southern “needs to be made to pay” for any medical costs stemming from the derailment and chemical spill.

Disaster.news has more updates on the East Palestine, Ohio train derailment.

Listen to the Health Ranger Mike Adams as he shares some tips on how to detoxify the body from dioxin exposure below.

This video is from the Health Ranger Report channel on Brighteon.com.