By: John P. Kazior

In February of 2023, an ecological disaster started by a train derailment in Ohio’s East Palestine sent 900,000 pounds of chemicals, including the petroleum-based polymer vinyl chloride, into the air, soil, and water, and thus into the people, animals, insects, and plants—all manner of life in the region. On the side of the train cars carrying the polymer material, there were two symbols of the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS):