EAST PALESTINE, Ohio - Analysis of scientific data by Ohio State University shows plant materials from agricultural sites in the East Palestine area are not contaminated with semi-volatile organic compounds associated with the train derailment.

Those are the final findings released Tuesday by the Ohio Department of Agriculture and OSU’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences from plant tissue sample testing on East Palestine area crops.

Using U.S. EPA-approved methods, ODA’s plant health inspectors collected plant tissue samples from 16 agricultural areas in Columbiana County last month.

All samples - including winter wheat, pasture grasses, malting barley, and forage covers - were taken within a five-mile radius of the train derailment site. Samples collected and tested closest to the derailment site were considered the most likely for potential contamination, and plant tissue samples collected farther from the derailment site were tested to serve as a baseline comparison.

OSU’s analysis did not find reportable levels of SVOCs in the inner or background radius zones attributable to the train derailment, according to a news release.

All samples were analyzed for the same 26 selected semi-volatile organic compounds the U.S. EPA has been testing for in soil samples.

OSU scientists used an EPA-approved method (8270e) routinely used to identify and quantify SVOCs in materials.

MORE: Full Plant Tissue Sampling Report