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Enzyme tied to WTC ills
May explain cough, study sez
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/sto...p-391263c.html
BY PAUL H.B. SHIN
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
10/25/2006
Doctors unveiled a tantalizing glimpse yesterday into why some firefighters may suffer from the "World Trade Center cough" while others who endured the toxic dust and fumes at Ground Zero are relatively healthy.
Firefighters whose lung capacity deteriorated faster in the wake of 9/11 were more likely to be deficient in a key natural enzyme that protects against lung damage, according to a study of 90 of the 12,000 Bravest who responded to the attacks at Ground Zero.
But Dr. David Prezant, the study's lead researcher and the FDNY's co-chief medical officer, cautioned against drawing too broad a conclusion from the report.
"This is very, very preliminary information that cannot in any shape or form be translated into a diagnosis or treatment initiative," Prezant told the Daily News from Salt Lake City, where he presented his findings at a gathering of the American College of Chest Physicians.
"It is only one small piece of a puzzle," he said. "We are trying to understand the science behind why some patients come down with World Trade Center respiratory diseases and others do not."
However, the research could eventually help solve the puzzle years down the road, said Prezant, a lung specialist at Montefiore Medical Center.
Using a blood test normally used to screen people at risk of early-onset emphysema, Prezant found that 11 of the 90 firefighters had low levels of an enzyme called alpha-1 antitrypsin, or A1AT.
Of the 11, four had a significant deficiency of A1AT while seven had a moderate deficiency, the blood tests showed.
But none had the most severe kind of genetic deficiency. All have the WTC cough.
"What this enzyme does is it protects the lungs from damage," said Dr. Mark Rosen, a pulmonologist at North Shore-Long Island Jewish Medical Center and president of American College of Chest Physicians.
"It prevents the destruction of lung tissue by a variety of mechanisms," he said.
About 150,000 Americans have a severe shortage of A1AT, but many are undiagnosed.
"Many more have a partial deficiency, and most of those people are not diagnosed for their whole lives because most of those people don't get sick" unless they are exposed to toxins such as cigarette smoke, Rosen said.
Prezant stressed that trying to determine whether a particular disease - whether it's WTC cough or breast cancer - is due to genetic or environmental factors is a science that's still in its infancy.
"It's not going to be one genetic trait" that is responsible for WTC cough, Prezant said.
That's why simply testing responders for the enzyme won't be useful, he said.
But the ongoing research at the FDNY is "on the cutting edge for trying to find future cures."
A study published in August by one of Prezant's colleagues at Montefiore painted a grim picture of the lung ailments among the 12,000 firefighters who inhaled dust and smoke on 9/11 and in the following months.
Those firefighters suffered a dramatic loss of lung capacity - 12 times the normal rate that occurs each year as people age, the study found.
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CHEST: World Trade Center Cough Linked to Enzyme Deficiency
http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingC.../CHEST/tb/4354
By Michael Smith, Senior Staff Writer, MedPage Today
October 24, 2006
SALT LAKE CITY, Oct. 24 -- Researchers are slowly beginning to tease out why some people exposed to the toxic dust from the collapse of the World Trade Center towers developed respiratory disease and others didn't.
Advise patients who ask that little is known about why some people exposed to the fumes and dust from the collapse of the World Trade Center towers developed respiratory disease and other did not.
Note that this preliminary study finds a link between disease and deficiencies in the enzyme alpha-1 antitrypsin, which has been linked to an increased vulnerability to chronic lung and liver disorders.
This report is based on an abstract presented at a meeting. These data and conclusions should be considered preliminary as they have not yet been reviewed and published in a peer-reviewed publication.
One factor that may have played a role is a deficiency in the enzyme alpha-1 antitrypsin (A1AT), an investigator looking into the so-called World Trade Center cough said at Chest 2006, the meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians.
Alpha 1-antitrypsin is a serine protease inhibitor. It protects tissue from enzymes released by inflammatory cells, especially elastase.
In a study he repeatedly characterized as "very preliminary," David Prezant, M.D., of New York's Montefiore Medical Center found that firefighters with an A1AT deficiency had significantly faster declines in lung function than those with normal A1AT levels.
But, he cautioned, the finding is based on a small sample and needs more research before it will have clinical relevance.
"It is too early to apply this at this time," Dr. Prezant told reporters before presenting his data. Indeed, he said, it's likely that A1AT deficiency is only one of many factors that played a role in determining who got sick after the towers collapsed.
Dr. Prezant and colleagues have been studying 12,000 of the New York firefighters who were "down there during the days and weeks that followed the collapse of the towers" and for whom lung function tests both before and after are available.
About 25% of the 2,000 to 3,000 firefighters who were exposed to the toxic fumes and dust on the first day -- Sept. 11, 2001 -- are still suffering from pulmonary symptoms consistent with asthma, he said.
A small subset of 151 exposed firefighters were enrolled in October 2001, and offered annual spirometric testing until 2005, when the 90 remaining in the group (60%) were given a blood test for A1AT deficiency.
Eleven were deficient in the enzyme -- four severely and seven to a lesser degree -- although none was homozygous for the genetic variants that would have given them the worst level of deficiency.
"That's to be expected," Dr. Prezant said. "These were healthy people before 9/11 doing a tremendous amount of aerobic activities."
But when the researchers statistically correlated A1AT levels and declines in lung function in the year after 9/11, they found that severely deficient subjects had a greater decline in one-second forced expiratory volume (FEV1) than normal participants, by about 125 mL.
Over the four years after the buildings were destroyed, those with severe deficiency continued to decline more than normal participants, at a rate that was significant at P=0.003. Also, those with moderate deficiency had declines that were intermediate.
The American College of Chest Physicians estimates that about 150,000 people in North America have an A1AT deficiency, but only about 5% have been diagnosed.
"A1AT deficiency can greatly affect the health and well being of patients, particularly in those who remain undiagnosed," commented Mark Rosen, M.D., of Beth Israel Medical Center in New York, president of the college. "It is important for pulmonologists and other clinicians to understand screening guidelines for A1AT deficiency and recommend appropriate testing for patients accordingly."
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A Call to the NY Media: Save the Volunteers!
http://loho10002.blogspot.com/2006/1...olunteers.html
by Jonathan Bennett
10/25/2006
I am writing to ask your assistance in publicizing a change in New York State’s Workers’ Compensation Law which will allow workers and volunteers who participated in the rescue, recovery and clean up efforts after 9/11 to register to preserve the right to file for workers’ compensation benefits.
As you know, many people traveled from all over the U.S. to New York City after 9/11 to work or volunteer in the rescue, recovery and cleanup effort. Now tens of thousands of 9/11 responders are experiencing or are at risk of disease or post-traumatic disorders resulting from their exposures and experiences. Fortunately, their right to file for workers’ compensation will now be protected, as a result of a New York State law that went into effect on August 14. The law applies to the vast majority of 9/11 responders,, including volunteers, even those who are now healthy, but workers and volunteers must register before next Aug. 14 to establish their permanent eligibility.
NYCOSH (the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health), in collaboration with World Trade Center Medical Monitoring Program, the Laborers’ Health and Safety Trust Fund, Balcony, the Business and Labor Coalition of New York, the United Church of Christ's National Disaster Ministries and workers’ compensation law firms, is trying to get this word out to workers and volunteers from all over the country.
It is imperative that everyone who is eligible to register receives information about this program before it’s too late. Anyone who does not register before the August 14, 2007 deadline – and who later develops a 9/11-related disease or disorder – will have missed an opportunity to have all medical expenses for the treatment of that condition covered by workers' compensation.
You are in a uniquely important position to make post-9/11 workers and volunteers aware of the program by placing an article in your newsletter, magazine or by send the story to your email list.
Pasted below is a short article that is an introduction to the new compensation program for post-9/11 workers and volunteers. For a formatted version of the article, go to New law provides benefits for 9/11 workers and volunteers: Registration open for a year. Or go to an even shorter version of the same article. The articles are not copyright and can be revised in any way and put to any appropriate use.
In the last paragraph of the articles there is a Internet link to the NYCOSH website where you can find detailed information (in English and Spanish) about the program. We will soon be posting the same information in Polish. Other translations are in the works.
If you would like to receive occasional updates about news concerning resources for treating and compensating those with 9/11-related health effects, please let me know by email. My contact information is pasted below the article.
I hope you can help.
For more information about 9/11-related disease, which in many cases is not recognized as such, visit Clinical Guidelines for Physicians Treating Adults Exposed to the World Trade Center Disaster on the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's website.
Jonathan Bennett is Public Affairs Director of the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health
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More allegations from EPA whistleblower
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Mo...ower_1026.html
Brian Beutler
Published: Thursday October 26, 2006
An Environmental Protection Agency whistleblower who has long argued that her agency failed to issue proper warnings about air quality at the World Trade Center disaster site, has leveled new accusations against the agency, RAW STORY has learned.
As RAW STORY reported this past August, Cate Jenkins, an EPA biochemist, sent a letter to the New York congressional delegation, alleging that the inconsistent official reports about inhalant alkalinity were part of an intentional cover up by government scientists and officials.
Jenkins' latest sixty-page document, addressed to the acting Inspector General of the EPA, is in large part a compilation of her previous allegations, but also claims to offer new evidence that criminal fraud is to blame.
In the latest report, Jenkins contends that by failing to report that some of the particulates in the air constituted a severe health hazard--and by suppressing the results of tests for the presence of other toxic chemicals--the EPA misled the public about the dire health consequences of remaining near ground zero or participating in the clean-up effort in the days following the attack.
Tens of thousands of cases of lung disease have reportedly resulted from exposure to the smoke and debris that hovered in the vicinity of the disaster site for months after the towers collapsed.
Earlier this year, federal judge Deborah Batts ruled that then-EPA director Christine Todd Whitman had misled residents and rescuers when she pronounced that the air quality in lower Manhattan met public safety standards and necessitated neither a surgical mask nor a respirator.
John Manibusan, spokesman for the office of the Inspector General, told RAW STORY that he had not yet received the complaint, but added, “[Jenkins] has issued a number of complaints to our office, about the World Trade Center and other things. We always take a look at them. In some cases we issue a response. How long that takes depends on a lot of factors.”
Manibusan directed Raw to a 2004 official response to earlier Jenkins allegations of a conflict of interest in the peer review of EPA's assesment of ground-zero health hazards. That investigation found that though the “EPA's Contractor did not inquire whether the three panelists had received funding from industry or had publically expressed viewpoints on the issues to be reviewed,” they “did not find that the panel's input was biased,” or “that any of the panelists should have been excluded” from participating.
Jenkins' full memorandom may be read here.
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Nun Dies From Illness She Said Stemmed From 9/11 Dust
http://www.wnbc.com/news/10219330/detail.html
November 2, 2006
NEW YORK -- A nun who worked at the World Trade Center site in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks died Wednesday after a battle with lung disease that she said stemmed from inhaling toxic dust at ground zero, according to her lawyer.
Sister Cindy Mahoney volunteered at ground zero to bless the remains of victims.
Attorney David Worby said Mahoney, who was suffering from interstitial lung disease, hoped her story would help prove the connection between exposure to dust at the World Trade Center site and fatal illness.
According to Worby, Mahoney requested that an autopsy be conducted after her death to prove that the toxic dust at ground zero made her sick.
Worby, whose lawsuit against New York City was given a green light last month by a federal judge, said Mahoney's initial autopsy was conducted in South Carolina Wednesday, but that additional tissue samples would be tested in the coming weeks.
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very sad....this whole thread.
hopefully the result of the autopsy will get a fire under peoples ass to demand justice.
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Here's the original story that told us about her.
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yeah I remember that story....I was wondering what happened to her. Then the other day on blogger they had a video with one of the first responders talking about his ailments and those of others one of whom was the nun, who he said was dying.
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Yup. Craig Bartmer who said, "You're not offending me. You're doing the right thing."
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yeah thats the one. I get completely teary eyed watching these guys talk. Just a bunch guys trying to make ends meet, doin' the best they can, having to clean up that horrible disaster, having to see 'god-knows-what in the rubble; only to have the government stick it to them.
But yet that Kerry slips up on some stupid joke or that some guy being manhandled at an Allen campaign is found by the mass media to be more news worthy. Sickening
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Nun Dies Of Respiratory Disease After Serving At Ground Zero
http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index...id=1&aid=64007
November 03, 2006
A nun who spent six months working at the World Trade Center site has died.
While the official cause of death has not yet been determined, Sister Cynthia Mahoney believed her lungs were damaged from the six months she spent working as a chaplain and EMT downtown.
The 54-year-old nun died Wednesday at her home in South Carolina.
In interviews, she said she developed asthma, along with respiratory, digestive and lung problems from working at the site.
At her request, her autopsy results will be included in a class action lawsuit filed by first responders.
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SC nun who says lung disease from 9/11 sickened her dies
http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5629267
(Aiken-AP) November 3, 2006 - A nun who says her lungs were permanently damaged after spending six months at Ground Zero following the September 11th, 2001, terror attacks died Wednesday.
Sister Cynthia Mahoney was 54 years old.
Shellhouse Funeral Home says she died at her Aiken home.
No cause of death was given, but Mahoney has said she thinks poisoned air at Ground Zero gave her a deadly mix of asthma as well as pulmonary and digestive problems.
Mahoney spent every day for six months after the attacks as a chaplain and an emergency medical technician.
Mahoney's funeral will be Saturday at Shellhouse Funeral Home's chapel in Aiken. A private burial will follow.
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Lawyer fights for ‘Ground Zero’ angel
http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Dis...6110412524.xml
Web posted at: 11/4/2006 1:25:24
new york • A nun who spent months at the site of the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York, comforting relatives of the dead and blessing body parts, has died of lung disease, her lawyer said yesterday.
David Worby said there was no doubt in Sister Cindy Mahoney’s mind that she had contracted her respiratory illness from sifting through the rubble of the World Trade Center, and he said he would fight to prove the link.
Mahoney, 54, knew she was dying and requested a thorough autopsy be carried out after her death to prove that her symptoms — like those of thousands of people who worked at the site — were linked to working there.
“She said that considering the rest of the city was just calling this a cough and wasn’t recognising the severity, she wanted to make sure that when she died I was personally responsible for having an appropriate autopsy and pathology report” carried out, Worby said.
Five years after the attacks, thousands of workers, residents and rescuers have reported respiratory problems that scientists believe to be linked to the fine particles released from the debris and inhaled deep into the lungs.
Several lawsuits have been filed, notably against the Environmental Protection Agency, which assured residents that the air quality at Ground Zero was safe a week after the attacks.
New York authorities have also come under fire for not forcing people to wear respirators during the recovery and clean-up operations.
An autopsy carried out on a 34-year-old police officer in January for the first time established an official link between respiratory complaints and the hours workers spent sifting through the rubble at Ground Zero.
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GROUND ZERO'S 'ANGEL' NUN DIES
AUTOPSY WILL EYE 9/11 DUST
http://www.nypost.com/seven/11032006...an_edelman.htm
By SUSAN EDELMAN
November 3, 2006 -- An Episcopal nun who spent five months blessing remains at the World Trade Center died this week and has been granted her dying wish - to be autopsied to prove her lung disease was caused by toxins she inhaled.
Sister Cindy Mahoney, 54 - who became known as the "Angel of Ground Zero" - arranged for the autopsy from her deathbed months ago, hoping to help the cause of 9/11 rescue and recovery workers seeking financial aid and medical care.
"This can't happen over and over and over again," she told David Worby, a lawyer for 8,000 recovery workers in a videotaped statement in August.
"There are people like me who have given up [the struggle to survive]. Because we're asking for help we're made to feel like malingerers.
"Don't let them shut us down," she begged.
The autopsy was performed by Dr. Janice Ross, a pathologist in South Carolina, where she moved in 2002.
The findings will be reviewed by Dr. Michael Baden, the city's former chief medical examiner.
They are waiting for lab results from tissue samples, which are expected in the next two weeks.
The autopsy could prove that WTC dust was deadly - because Mahoney had been a healthy, active, non-smoker. "She came to 9/11 with clean lungs," Worby said.
A New Jersey medical examiner has attributed the death of retired NYPD detective James Zadroga to his time at Ground Zero - the only such ruling so far.
Worby said 81 of the workers he represents in a class-action suit against the city have died, but none was autopsied.
"Her whole life was about helping people," said Mahoney's niece, Elizabeth McManus, 23, who cared for her aunt around the clock in the Aiken, S.C., home of friends.
The big-hearted, feisty Mahoney. a former EMT who grew up in Aiken, became ill and destitute after returning to her hometown from New York.
Two weeks before 9/11, she had been transferred to a lower Manhattan convent, and raced to the Twin Towers when the planes hit.
She spent nearly every day consoling relatives of the dead, blessing body parts, and comforting fellow workers.
About 4 a.m. Wednesday, Mahoney called frantically for her niece.
"I can't breathe. Help me! Help me!" she cried.
"Those last few minutes she was absolutely terrified," the niece said.
Mahoney suffered chronic obstructive lung disease, asthma, and other respiratory and gastrointestinal diseases common to Ground Zero workers, Worby and relatives said.
"She was so sick and suffering so badly, and that's over for her now," McManus said.
"She believed in heaven and would say, 'I'm just waiting to be called home.' "
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Judge caps NY City's 9-11 liability at $1 billion
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satelli...cle%2FShowFull
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
11/3/2006
A judge said Friday that thousands of emergency workers expected to claim they were harmed by World Trade Center dust after the Sept. 11 attack may have to share up to $1 billion, the amount he believes is the city's limit on liability.
US District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein indicated he might soon make a formal finding that the liability has a limit and appoint a special master to speed claims so that injured workers can recover money they need to cover their medical expenses.
At least 6,200 lawsuits have been filed by emergency workers. Hellerstein expects between 10,000 and 11,000 people who worked at the Trade Center site will file lawsuits.
The judge said he did not believe the workers can recover additional money from 150 private contractors who worked at the site because the city was ultimately responsible for the work conditions.
Hellerstein told more than 100 lawyers packed in his courtroom that the cap on damages would shorten litigation needs and speed payouts to those who need them.
Otherwise, he said, "we'll die and our children will die and our grandchildren will die before this litigation ends."
The judge said he wanted to lessen the work for lawyers because otherwise a greater proportion than necessary of the $1 billion will go to lawyers rather than victims.
Paul Joseph Napoli, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, first praised the judge's analysis but later said he believed insurance policies held by contractors could add another $500 million to the payouts.
James Tyrrell, a lawyer for the city and the contractors, said it would be "truly a breakthrough" if the plaintiffs agreed that the city's liability was limited to $1 billion.
"How would you respond?" the judge asked him.
"Positively," he answered.
The judge last month ruled that the city, its contractors and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the site, were only partially immune from lawsuits filed on behalf of workers who cleaned up the World Trade Center debris for months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The lawsuits claimed the city and its contractors were negligent in monitoring the air and assuring appropriate safety in the workplace, particularly adequate respiratory equipment.
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If my math is right, $1,000,000,000.00 split evenly between 70,000 is $14,285.71 a piece.
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9/11 responders seek options for care
http://www.newsday.com/news/health/n...y-health-print
BY T.W. FARNAM
November 12, 2006
Leslie James has spent two years appealing his workers' compensation claim for injuries he suffered fleeing from the World Trade Center and returning a week later to clean up toxic dust from the kitchen nearby where he worked.
The burning around his heart, his difficulty breathing and the plastic kneecap that makes his left leg swell - all stemming from Sept. 11, 2001 - have kept him from working since then.
"This is almost five years going, and I have to live with my three kids, my wife and myself," said James, 52, adding that the only income for the family is his 4-year-old son's $627-monthly disability check. "We use that for wash. We use that for travel. We use that for food."
James, of Crown Heights, and about 400 workers who helped clean up 1.8 million tons of trade center debris, gathered in lower Manhattan yesterday to learn about options for health care and fill out forms guaranteeing their eligibility.
Many said they are hopeful the new Democratic Congress will extend funding for monitoring and treatment.
"We have a large task ahead of us," Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan) said.
"But I'm hopeful that with the election returns last Tuesday, we will have a less-deaf Congress and a less-deaf administration."
Without congressional action, federal funds for the treatment of 9/11 first responders will run out in July. Funds to monitor the ill workers are expected to last less than two years.
"The response of the government to the health effects of 9/11 has been disgraceful in the extreme," Nadler said. "The attitude of government has been 'Help us clean up the mess and then we'll throw you overboard.'"
Two bills are pending before Congress: The Remember 9/11 Health Act and the James Zadroga Act.
The first would provide $1.9 billion over five years for monitoring and research, and would provide Medicare benefits for patients. The James Zadroga Act - named for the New York City police officer who was the first 9/11 responder whose death was directly attributed to Ground Zero toxins - would reopen the September 11th Victims Compensation Fund.
Yesterday's event was organized by the World Trade Center Medical Monitoring Program based at The Mount Sinai Medical Center, which published findings in September showing that 60 percent of Ground Zero workers still suffer health effects, including reduced breathing capacity, pulmonary fibrosis and asbestosis.
Doctors said the worst effects may not surface for years. Prior to the study's release, the program had examined nearly 12,000 first responders.
Thousands more workers have entered the monitoring program since the study was published, bringing the total number of patients to 17,600.
"People coming in now are much sicker," said Dr. Jacqueline Moline, a co-author of the Mount Sinai study. "They've waited five years."
The program will have to notify patients of an impending lack of services in a few months without more funding, she said.
In the meantime, James is surviving day to day, using sample medications from his doctors.
"I have to pray to God that something good will happen," he said.
"When I asked [my doctor] what is happening, she said, 'You are like a ticking time bomb.'"
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WTC Rescue Workers Attend Health Conference
http://wcbstv.com/topstories/local_story_315213452.html
11/11/2006
(AP) NEW YORK World Trade Center first responders attended a conference today on the health effects of working at the site in aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
Doctor Jacqueline Moline of the WTC Medical Monitoring Program says she's seen a lot of patients with persistent breathing problems, sinus congestion and stomach and musculoskeletal problems, possibly from working at ground zero.
First responders gathered at the monitoring program's downtown headquarters, where they were told about services being offered, and places where they can go to treatment.
The program has already performed free medical screenings to 32,000 first responders. For the next five years, people who participate in the program receive comprehensive and confidential medical examinations at regular intervals.
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Gathering of heroes & help at last
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/loca...p-396064c.html
BY PAUL H.B. SHIN
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
11/11/2006
For many World Trade Center responders who have fallen ill after toiling in the toxic haze of 9/11, getting medical care and paying those bills has been a struggle.
But hundreds of Ground Zero heroes got a helping hand yesterday at a conference that provided one-stop shopping for medical and legal services.
The gathering - a block from Ground Zero at the headquarters of DC 37, the city's biggest union - also empowers ailing workers because they realize they are not alone in their suffering, said Dr. Stephen Levin of Mount Sinai Medical Center, which has been monitoring and treating thousands of first responders.
"If it weren't for the existence of these treatment programs, many of these people wouldn't have access to care," Levin said.
Among the estimated 40,000 Ground Zero responders, thousands have been stricken, according to a landmark study unveiled by Mount Sinai in September.
Among them is Andy Scallo, 45, a heavy equipment operator who worked for three months on the smoldering pile.
Scallo now suffers from multiple sclerosis and may soon have to quit his job, he said.
"I was here to help my country. Now I'm sick," Scallo said. "My doctor tells me in two years, I won't be walking."
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said the federal government must do more to treat Ground Zero heroes. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently released the first batch of federal funds - $40 million - for treatment, not merely health monitoring.
Nadler is pushing legislation to provide medical care for responders through Medicare, "so that the heroes of 9/11 are treated like heroes and not inconvenient people to be forgotten."
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) has introduced legislation to reopen the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund to pay for their medical bills.
With Democrats set to take over of both houses of Congress in January, "we really have an opportunity to do right by the heroes of 9/11," said Maloney's spokesman, Joe Soldevere.
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No to Planned Guidelines on 9/11-Related Autopsies
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/18/ny...Zk5b+rLB0IQqzA
By ANTHONY DePALMA
Published: November 18, 2006
The federal government has abandoned efforts to create standardized autopsy guidelines to help determine whether deaths of people who worked at ground zero during recovery operations in 2001 and 2002 can be conclusively connected to the hazardous smoke and dust they breathed there.
The guidelines were supposed to be sent to doctors nationwide to avoid the kind of confusion that resulted earlier this year after a New Jersey coroner concluded that the death of James Zadroga, a New York City police detective, had been caused by exposure to the hazardous air at ground zero, the first such official finding for anyone who worked at the site.
While Mr. Zadroga’s family and colleagues saw the autopsy report as clear proof connecting his death to the dust at the World Trade Center site, experts were troubled because certain specialized tests that might have identified material found in the detective’s lungs had not been performed. The proposed federal guidelines would have laid out methods for taking and analyzing tissue samples from workers in the New York area and across the country. The draft document also established a process for reaching a conclusion about the cause of death.
Autopsy reports often are presented as evidence in civil suits seeking to establish liability. But medical experts outside the federal government who were asked to review the proposal expressed concern that guidelines could be seen as an attempt to assess liability for diseases linked to the dust rather than an effort to find scientific answers that could lead to improved diagnosis and treatment.
They said the proposed autopsy procedures would not provide conclusive results and would be subject to inappropriate use by plaintiffs in the thousands of lawsuits filed against the city and its contractors by injured workers.
“The draft document could be misinterpreted or misapplied, hindering rather than furthering progress in addressing W.T.C. health concerns,” the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health said in a note posted on its Web site yesterday afternoon.
In place of the proposed autopsy protocols, the federal government intends to have the New York State Departmentcupational Safety and Healthf the long-term health effects of exposure to the contaminants in the air at ground zero.
“From our evaluation of the independent reviews, it appears that other avenues are more likely to achieve our goal, and that of our partners, of reducing uncertainties in assessing W.T.C. health effects,” the note on the institute’s Web site explained.
Medical studies have shown that many of the 40,000 people who worked at ground zero are now suffering from respiratory ailments and some doctors fear they could develop more serious diseases in the future.
The institute’s director, Dr. John Howard, who is the official in charge of coordinating the federal response to ground zero-related health issues, had made the development of standard autopsy procedures a priority as he tried to establish the extent of the health risks facing those who worked on the trade center cleanup.
Dr. Howard could not be reached for comment. But his spokesman, Fred Blosser, said that although Dr. Howard had considered the guidelines a promising concept, he changed his mind after the external reviewers reported that “they didn’t believe scientifically that this would give us meaningful information to accomplish what we want to accomplish, which is to shed light on the long-term health effects of working at ground zero.”
One of those reviewers was Dr. David J. Prezant, chief medical officer of the New York City Fire Department. In a copy of his written comments to the draft guidelines, Dr. Prezant said that only a large-scale epidemiological study that analyzes the medical history of many workers would yield the kind of information Dr. Howard was seeking.
He also noted that the collection and detailed microscopic analysis of tissue samples recommended in the guidelines could only be done in specialized laboratories and pathology centers, which were not named in the draft.
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9/11 Autopsy Guidelines Plan Abandoned
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...sn=001&sc=1000
By LARRY McSHANE, Associated Press Writer
Saturday, November 18, 2006 04 53 PM
(11-18) 16:53 PST New York (AP) -- An effort to create standard autopsy guidelines that could document a link between toxic air at ground zero and deaths of 9/11 rescue workers has been abandoned by the federal government amid concerns the information collected could be misinterpreted.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, in a note posted Friday on its Web site, said the agency "instead will pursue other avenues for documenting long-term health effects from exposure to air contaminants from the World Trade Center disaster."
Outside medical experts who reviewed the plan suggested focusing on monitoring epidemiological patterns of disease in those exposed.
In a Sept. 15 draft, the institute proposed examining specific sections of the lungs and creating a "tissue bank" to preserve certain organs and bodily fluids for later testing.
The institute said reviewers had raised several questions, including concerns that "the draft document could be misinterpreted or misapplied, hindering rather than furthering progress in addressing WTC health concerns."
"This study has many insurmountable barriers to overcome," wrote Dr. David J. Prezant, chief medical officer for the city Fire Department. Prezant, whose review was posted on the Web site, said one of those barriers was the "politics of causality," a reference to pending lawsuits filed against the city by injured workers.
Because autopsy results are often used in civil lawsuits, the results collected by the institute — while intended as a scientific study — could be used as a trial tool for lawyers and others with an "undeniable self-interest" in the cause of death, Prezant said.
The collapse of the twin towers sent thick plumes of concrete dust, fiberglass, asbestos and lead into the air in lower Manhattan. The tainted air was taken in by thousands of ground zero workers in the weeks after the terrorist attack that killed 2,749 people.
The guidelines were intended to be used nationwide in cases such as the death of New York City police detective James Zadroga, who died last January. Zadroga spent 470 hours working amid the toxic fumes, and fell ill within weeks.
An autopsy found the 34-year-old detective died as a result of ground zero exposure, finding that there was material "consistent with dust" found in his lungs.
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Extended Interview: Researcher Discusses Health of 9/11 First Responders
Philip Landrigan, chairman of the Community and Preventive Medicine Department at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York, discusses the department's recent report on the health of 9/11 first responders.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/scien...gan_11-21.html
11/21/2006
TOM BEARDEN: Mt. Sinai has just completed a major study of the people who responded to the World Trade Center. What did you find?
PHILIP LANDRIGAN: Well, we reported on about 9,200 workers: firefighters, police, construction workers, other responders at the World Trade Center site. The major finding that we recorded was that approximately 60 percent of these people had developed new respiratory symptoms since starting work at Ground Zero.
TOM BEARDEN: Sixty percent is significant.
PHILIP LANDRIGAN: Sixty percent is very significant and it's much higher than we would expect in the general American population. And our assessment of the severity of the situation was heightened by the finding that in roughly two-thirds of these people the signs and symptoms were so persistent two or three years later.
TOM BEARDEN: What kind of problems did you find?
PHILIP LANDRIGAN: Well, first of all we found upper respiratory problems. Very ... nasty, very acute sinusitis in a lot of these folks. And then also lower respiratory problems -- cough, wheeze.
And then objectively going beyond just symptoms, we actually did what are called pulmonary function tests where people are asked to blow hard and fast into a tube and measure how much air they move in a given period of time. And we found lots of evidence in that test for pulmonary restriction, which is to say shrinkage in the volume of the lungs. And in one particular test the frequency for evidence of restriction was five times what we would expect in the general population of the U.S.
TOM BEARDEN: We spoke with two police detectives -- one who has cancer, has leukemia, and the other who has lost 50 percent of his kidney function. Is it possible to attribute those sorts of problems to Ground Zero?
PHILIP LANDRIGAN: Up until now we've been focusing on two things -- respiratory problems and mental health problems. Because it was clear to all of us that those were the two categories of disease that were going to be most important in the first five years after the attacks.
Now that we've gotten past the five-year point and we're moving into the period of time when you would begin to expect to see diseases that have a long [incubation] period, we're actually engaged in a process right now to develop criteria for which other diseases such as cancer, such as chronic lung disease, such as kidney disease, such as other diseases like he included on that list.
TOM BEARDEN: But it's too early to know for sure?
PHILIP LANDRIGAN: We're working to get it right because all recognize that it's very important that the list has to be accurate. We have to be sure to provide benefits to anybody who deserves benefits and we don't want to make any mistakes.
Range of illnesses
TOM BEARDEN: Of the 60 percent of the people that you've identified so far, how would you characterize the seriousness of the problems that they've suffered?
PHILIP LANDRIGAN: There's a range of course, and what we found was that the people who had the most serious disease are the people who were there first. The people who actually were engulfed in the dust cloud that we all saw on TV on 9/11 are far and away the most seriously affected.
Then the next most seriously affected are the folks who arrived in the first 24 hours but missed the actual dust cloud. Next most seriously affected are the people who arrived 24 or 48 or 72 hours after the events, and so on down.
And actually the fact that there is that internal gradient -- that internal dose response -- strengthens our feeling that this is a true cause and effect relationship that we're seeing.
We think that the likely cause ... of all the respiratory problems lies in the chemical nature of the dust. The major component of the World Trade Center dust was pulverized concrete. Cement. Which was very, very alkaline. Had a pH of 10 or 11, which means that the alkalinity of this material is equivalent to that of Drano.
And moreover it was in finely particulate form, so that when people inhaled this stuff it actually had the capacity to adhere to the lining of the trachea, the bronchi, and even -- because it was small -- moved on into the depths of these people's lungs.
And we think that's why the material was so incredibly toxic per unit weight. Then of course in addition to the pulverized cement, there were billions and billions of microscopic shards of glass from all the blown out windows and various chemical contaminants.
TOM BEARDEN: An attorney who represents some of those people who are involved in a class action suit believes there was perhaps an accelerating in the mixture of the chemicals and so forth that was in the cloud that might make these more serious diseases appear more quickly. Is that possible?
PHILIP LANDRIGAN: It's possible. We certainly know of other instances of synergy, acceleration between chemicals. The classic example that was recognized 30 years ago ... was the synergy that existed between asbestos and cigarette smoke. We know that asbestos workers who smoke cigarettes had much more lung disease, specifically much more lung cancer, than asbestos workers who didn't smoke. So the notion of plausibility is certainly real and we need to explore it in the case of 9/11 people.
TOM BEARDEN: Is there a timeframe -- that a clock is ticking right now, if you will -- that will require a period of time for studies to link directly to cause and effect, or is that pretty much established now?
PHILIP LANDRIGAN: I would consider it quite well established in the case of the pulmonary disease that we're seeing, and quite well established in the case of the mental health problems that we're seeing. And still a work in progress for some of the other conditions.
TOM BEARDEN: How long would the other conditions take to become apparent scientifically?
PHILIP LANDRIGAN: That is not entirely certain. And the thing is here, we just don't know with any absolute certainty how many years it will take for various other diseases to appear in these folks. Will it be one year, three, five, 10, 20?
We know for example in the case of the cancers caused by asbestos that they can appear as long as four and five decades after the fact. That's probably longer than most, but still gives you a sense of the time frame that we're operating in. So I think our responsibility as doctors who are caring for these people is to continue to examine them conscientiously, to continue to publish our reports every couple of years as new data become available, and continuously to sift the evidence and see what the connections are.
And at the same ... we need to work with the folks who are appropriating new funds to make sure that this is a study with uninterrupted stream of funding, to support these examinations so that we're in a position to see new diseases as they appear.
Funding of health evaluations
TOM BEARDEN: Do you think that there's a danger that the government -- state, local and federal -- might forget about this and that that steady funding stream that you think is so important might dry up?
PHILIP LANDRIGAN: I don't think there's a real risk that government will forget the workers of 9/11. These folks are national heroes. They rushed into the scene at Ground Zero hours after the attack on the towers and some of them continued to labor there for six months. I think that ... at all levels of government, city, state and federal, there is such support for continuing evaluations for these workers. I simply cannot conceive that it would go away.
TOM BEARDEN: Those two first responders I mentioned earlier told us about how they went home with this stuff all over their clothes, and they took it home and their families were exposed to it. Are you concerned about health risks to those people secondarily as well?
PHILIP LANDRIGAN: Well, there have been numerous examples recorded in occupational medicine of people carrying toxins home with them from the workplace to cause illness in their families. It's been seen in lead workers, it's been seen in asbestos workers, it's been seen in workers in pesticide plants. And so yes, we need to be concerned in this instance.
TOM BEARDEN: Can you put a number on the number of people we might be talking about here ultimately?
PHILIP LANDRIGAN: We have reasonable estimates of the number of people who worked at Ground Zero and at the other sites that were directly exposed to the dust, such as the Fresh Kills Landfill, and it's somewhere between probably 40,000 and 60 or 70,000.
We're working right now with the city health department to refine that number. What's more difficult to calculate is the total number of people outside the workplace in ... Manhattan who were exposed to the dust. The city health department has set up a registry and they're working very hard to try to come up with a very accurate estimate of that.
TOM BEARDEN: Is it possible to say what the lower and upper numbers of those might be?
PHILIP LANDRIGAN: I'd rather not commit at this point.
Reaching out to workers
DAVID STEPHEN: As science goes through its process of determining what happened and what to do about it, is there a risk that people may die in the meantime because they're getting sicker faster than anybody anticipated?
PHILIP LANDRIGAN: Well, I think one of the very strong arguments for continuing the medical monitoring and medical follow-up of the responders at the World Trade Center is that we need to be in a position to document any accelerated occurrence of disease. So I think it's a good idea that we should see each of these people every one to two years, that way if any disease of rapid onset is developing, we'll pick it up early.
And picking it up early has two benefits. First off it means that we can put those people on treatment as soon as we pick up their disease, and secondly, early detection means that we'll be in a position as rapidly as possible to recognize emerging patterns of disease so that we can consider interventions that go beyond the treatment of the individual worker.
DAVID STEPHEN: So the solution then is to monitor and to pick up any problems [in] as many people as possible on an ongoing basis?
PHILIP LANDRIGAN: Absolutely. Yes, the solution to the risk of early emergence of disease is continuing follow-up -- periodic exams every one to two years, continuing surveillance of the data so that we're in a position to observe patterns as they develop, and then of course intervention.
DAVID STEPHEN: How do you reach those folks who may not want to know, and they're worried about going to see a doctor?
PHILIP LANDRIGAN: Well you know, in all my years as a doctor, one of the constant struggles is to persuade people who are fearful of the medical profession to come in for examinations ... it becomes very important that we as physicians reach out to those people, that we persuade them that we need to overcome that fear of examination, come in and be checked.
And the reason that it's important that they be checked is not that they be given bad news, but rather that we're then in a position to intervene quickly and effectively to minimize the risk of disease, or minimize the risk of premature death.
We have developed a very active program of outreach to the workers who were down at Ground Zero and we're constantly sending out messages. We're doing some in multiple languages because we realize that the workers came from many different backgrounds and a very substantial [part of] our budget is for this outreach effort. We take it very seriously.
Learning from the past
DAVID STEPHEN: Some people see some historical precedence for what's happening here. They see it in the atomic veterans who were exposed to fallout from the nuclear attacks. They see it in the dioxin issues. They see it in Gulf War syndrome. They see it in Agent Orange and it seems to them at least that science is always about 10 years or 20 years behind in terms of determining who got hurt by what and who's going to pay for all this treatment. Is that something that, that's happening here too?
PHILIP LANDRIGAN: I think we've learned from past crises. For example, I sat on federal advisory boards on dioxin. I was a member of the Presidential Advisory Commission under President Clinton on Gulf War veterans' illnesses. The medical profession has learned from those past experiences how to mobilize in the aftermath of this kind of disaster, how to separate truth from untruth, how to focus resources to the benefit of patients.
And I would argue that the response here has been much more rapid, much more focused and much more compassionate than it was in any of the previous crises. I mean we were starting to see patients -- World Trade Center responders -- within a month or so of September 11th, 2001, and the pace we're seeing patients has only accelerated since that time. We've seen now a total of over 17,000 patients at Mt. Sinai and the fire department has seen another 13 or 14,000. So roughly 30,000 between us. That's an extraordinary response and unmatched by anything that I can recall in any of the previous events that you mentioned.
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I don't think there's a real risk that government will forget the workers of 9/11. These folks are national heroes. They rushed into the scene at Ground Zero hours after the attack on the towers and some of them continued to labor there for six months. I think that ... at all levels of government, city, state and federal, there is such support for continuing evaluations for these workers. I simply cannot conceive that it would go away.
Liar.
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A Push to Include 9/11 Health in Upcoming Presidential Budget Proposal
Reps. Maloney and Fossella are joined by 25 colleagues in bipartisan call for funding, federal plan
http://maloney.house.gov/index.php?o...1238&Itemid=61
WASHINGTON, DC – As the White House prepares an FY2008 budget proposal to be released early next year, 27 bipartisan Members of Congress are asking President Bush to include robust funding for comprehensive medical monitoring and treatment of those made sick by the toxic air around Ground Zero (letter to Bush). The group, led by Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Vito Fossella (R-NY), also urged the president to direct the Department of Health and Human Services to develop a plan for the federal response to the 9/11 Health Crisis.
“Just because the fifth anniversary of 9/11 has passed and the attention is elsewhere doesn’t mean that the 9/11 Health Crisis is going away,” said Maloney. “The men and women who breathed in the toxic air around Ground Zero will be feeling the serious effects for many years, and the federal response needs to reflect that. The federal government needs to view this as a long-term issue, as the doctors have testified, and it needs a plan that includes regular and serious funding in the federal budget to provide help to these heroes.”
Fossella said, “We have made progress over the last year to begin getting the resources necessary to help our 9/11 heroes. However, we now need a significant investment by the federal government into health monitoring and treatment for those who are sick or injured. In addition, the federal government must develop a comprehensive plan to address the health impacts of 9/11.”
In October, $52 million, the very first federal dollars for the treatment of those suffering from 9/11-related illness, was released by the Department of Health and Human Services. Secretary Michael Leavitt has acknowledged that this money was only a “down payment,” and doctors who have monitored sick responders have testified before Congress that the crisis must be viewed as a problem that will persist for a few decades, not just a few years.
Signing the letter to Bush were: Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Vito Fossella (R-NY), Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), Diane Watson (D-CA), Joseph Crowley (D-NY), John Sweeney (R-NY), Brian Higgins (D-NY), Steve Israel (D-NY), Peter King (R-NY), Christopher Shays (R-CT), Tim Bishop (D-NY), Thad McCotter (R-MI), Eliot Engel (D-NY), Michael McNulty (D-NY), Howard Berman (D-CA), Jos Serrano (D-NY), Ed Towns (D-NY), Gary Ackerman (D-NY), Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), Major Owens (D-NY), Nita Lowey (D-NY), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Chris Smith (R-NJ), John Conyers (D-MI), Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), Anthony Weiner (D-NY), Gregory Meeks (D-NY).
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Death by Dust
The frightening link between the 9-11 toxic cloud and cancer
http://villagevoice.com/news/0648,lombardi,75156,2.html
by Kristen Lombardi
November 28th, 2006 5:22 PM
(Gold9472: Too long to post... read the link.)
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9/11 Workers Get Help From College Center
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?n...d=574902&rfi=6
by Liz Rhoades, Managing Editor
11/30/2006
When it starts a new program in a few weeks, a Queens health monitoring center will give hope to ailing emergency responders and other people who worked at the World Trade Center site following the Sept. 11 attacks.
Queens College’s Center for the Biology of Natural Systems has been awarded a federal $1.1 million grant from the National Institute For Occupational Safety and Health to evaluate and treat individuals suffering from World Trade Center related health conditions. The center has provided health monitoring exams for over 1,000 former ground zero workers since 2004.
“We are very happy about the funding,” said Dr. Steven Markowitz, director of the center, which is located at 163 03 Horace Harding Expressway in Flushing. “Now we can provide the health care directly.”
Legal paperwork is holding up the opening, but in a few weeks it is expected to be ready, with an increased staff of one or two. The current staff of 10 includes an occupational health physician and a lung doctor. Some cases will be referred to other specialists.
When the World Trade Center collapsed, no one thought about major health risks for the rescue and cleanup workers. “It was a terribly unsafe place to work,” Markowitz said. “Some workers didn’t have much respiratory protection, but the government told them it was safe.”
Although the health conditions vary, the center has seen patients suffering from throat and sinus problems, acid reflux and mental health issues, but mostly lung and upper airway problems.
There have been some cancer cases, but the director said there is not enough evidence to connect them to the fallout from the World Trade Center. “It’s difficult, because there is no smoking gun,” he said. “Respiratory cases are easier to confirm.”
He noted that some workers got sick right away while others weren’t affected for months. Even people working on the perimeter of the devastation have been affected, he noted.
“We have seen a lot of sick people from Queens,” Markowitz said. “A quarter of all those screened here lived in Queens at the time (of the terrorist attack).”
He expects people previously untested, who worked at ground zero, to come into the center. “We encourage it,” he added.
Although the federal grant is only for one year, Markowitz is hopeful that it will be extended. Patient monitoring, however, through periodic health exams will continue through May 2009.
The Center for the Biology of Natural Systems was started in 1981 and focuses on environmental and occupational health research. Earlier this year, it received a $19.5 million federal grant to expand its lung cancer screening project.
The group also has a mobile lab to test air quality in neighborhoods with high asthma rates and reaches out to day laborers, mainly immigrants, through a Woodside based community outreach center.
Markowitz is an internist and occupational health physician. He joined the center in 1998 and became its director in 2000.
Reflecting on the ground zero cleanup effort, he noted that there was extra pressure to get the work done, under unhealthy conditions. “The irony is everything is back to normal and now the site just sits there. What was the hurry?”
The World Trade Center treatment program is free to all ground zero responders who are enrolled or eligible for enrollment in the medical monitoring program. For more information, call Lauri Boni at (718) 670 4191. For an appointment, call (718) 670 4216.
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State Lawmakers Ask President For 9/11 Health Care Funding
http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index...id=1&aid=64751
December 01, 2006
Senator Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer, and Edward Kennedy wrote a letter to President George W. Bush Friday, to make sure those suffering 9/11 related health problems get adequate funding in the president's 2008 budget proposal.
Studies show that 70 percent of World Trade Center responders have new or worsened respiratory problems caused by their work at the site. The letter also requests money from the Department of Health to cover a funding gap until federal legislation is passed.
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Kevin Barrett Interviews Les Jamieson
Thanks to www.rbnlive.com
Part I
Click Here
Part II
Click Here
The topic of discussion is the environmental impact of 9/11.
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FEDERAL PROBE OF CITY $1B 9/11 FUND
http://www.nypost.com/seven/12032006...an_edelman.htm
(Gold9472: Scumbags.)
December 3, 2006 -- The federal Department of Homeland Security has launched an investigation into the city's $1 billion World Trade Center insurance company, which has spent more than $50 million fighting claims by ailing 9/11 responders.
The probe will look into charges by Rep. Jerrold Nadler, spurred by reports in The Post, that the company has violated congressional intent and misspent federal money to dispute more than 6,400 claims.
"I can confirm we are looking into the issues raised by Rep. Nadler," said Tamara Faulkner, a spokeswoman for the department's inspector general, Richard Skinner.
Faulkner said a team of inspectors with subpoena power will scrutinize the WTC Captive Insurance Co, which manages $1 billion Congress approved to pay claims against the city and its contractors from the WTC cleanup.
A report is expected in six to eight months.
The company, governed by five Bloomberg administration officials, would not comment last week, but has argued it has a "duty to defend" against the claims.
Records obtained by The Post show the company has spent more than $50 million on overhead, consultants and fees as of Sept. 30, including $32.9 million on law firms.
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Time running out for WTC workers
http://www.courierpostonline.com/app...1/61204011/-1/
By TODD B. BATES
Monday, December 4, 2006
Tens of thousands of paid workers and volunteers participated in rescue, recovery or cleanup efforts following the World Trade Center terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
But only a fraction of them have registered with the New York State Workers' Compensation Board to remain eligible for workers' compensation benefits if they get sick down the line.
They have until mid-August to register, under a New York state law signed by Gov. George E. Pataki.
"I think that there are upward of 100,000 people who are eligible under this program," including thousands of New Jersey residents, said Jonathan Bennett, spokesman for the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health. The nonprofit group provides occupational safety and health training, advocacy and information to workers and unions in the New York metro area.
The new law gives people more time to file a claim for workers' compensation benefits if they register before Aug. 14, 2007, according to a New York state statement on the Web.
If you're already ill, you can file a claim for worker's compensation after registering, according to a fact sheet on the Web.
The Rev. Denise P. Mantell of Matawan, rector of Trinity Episcopal Church there, said she plans to register.
"I'm glad that ... the powers that be have pushed through the ... needs of the people" and many "will get help that they need," Mantell said.
She developed lung cancer after spending hundreds of hours volunteering and helping people at or close to the World Trade Center site. She's had surgery to remove a malignant tumor as well as chemotherapy.
"I'm doing pretty good," Mantell said.
The reason the law changed is that in many cases, the symptoms people developed as a result of working at ground zero "did not reveal themselves until significant time later," said Jon A. Sullivan, spokesman for the New York State Workers' Compensation Board in Albany.
The collapse of the World Trade Center towers released tremendous quantities of smoke, dust and gases into the air, studies say. Ground zero fires, which released more pollutants, burned for more than three months.
Thousands of rescue and recovery workers and volunteers have had respiratory and other ailments, as an estimated 40,000 were exposed to caustic dust and toxic contaminants, according to experts.
About 18,000 people have been examined as part of a multi-clinic medical monitoring program coordinated by Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, according to Dr. Iris Udasin1 and information on the World Trade Center Medical Monitoring Program Web site.
As of the end of October, 1,445 people from New Jersey had gone to clinics, said Udasin, an associate professor and director of employee health at the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute and UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School's Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine in Piscataway.
Probably about half of the 1,445 have gone to the institute's Clinical Center, said Udasin, an East Brunswick resident.
Dozens from Monmouth and Ocean counties have been examined there, she has said.
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Key Senator Backs Aid For 9/11 Workers
California Democrat Barbara Boxer Endorses Clinton Plan To Help Sick Ground Zero Workers
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/...n2231140.shtml
12/5/2006
(AP) The U.S. government should provide health care for sick ground zero workers, the incoming head of the Senate's environment committee said Tuesday, vigorously endorsing presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's plan for a long-term care program for workers who fell sick after removing the debris of the Sept. 11, 2001 attack sites.
Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, in a wide-ranging discussion as she prepares to become chairwoman of the Environment and Public Works Committee next month, told The Associated Press that sick ground zero workers deserve long-term care.
"We are taking care of the families who lost loved ones and nobody complains about that," Boxer told the AP. "Why wouldn't we take care of the people who are surviving and coughing and sick — and dying, I might add — as a result of their work? To me it's clear, I don't have any hesitation about what our obligation is."
Boxer's declaration is a big boost to sick workers and New York lawmakers, including Clinton and New York Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer, who have badgered the Republican Congress and the Bush administration for years to do more for those who toiled on the toxic debris pile.
The soon-to-chairwoman also indicated she would follow Clinton's lead on the issue. In the new Democratic Senate, Clinton will chair a subcommittee under Boxer on environmental clean up issues.
"This is Hillary's domain, and I have told her I will be supporting everything that she and Chuck want to do," Boxer said.
Doctors found thousands of ground zero workers suffered a variety of ailments, principally lung and gastrointestinal disorders. The demands for treatment grew more urgent after the January death of 34-year-old former NYPD detective James Zadroga was blamed on his exposure at the site.
Clinton has estimated that each sick worker would need an average of about $5,800 a year in health care.
After Sept. 11, 2001, the government spent $90 million on health monitoring programs and this year spent an additional $75 million — the first federal dollars specifically for treatment. Health experts estimate that funding could run out in about a year.
"If you worked in a federally declared disaster area as a worker and you suffered harm," Boxer said, "you should have the help that you need in the immediate time to get well and then a follow-on through your whole life. It's no different really than putting yourself on the line in the military."
Boxer declared 9/11 health care "unfinished business," saying: "We definitely owe them the help to get well, yes, because they were down there because we were attacked."
Last September, just after the fifth anniversary of the attacks, Clinton offered an amendment on the Senate floor proposing a $2 billion program to provide health care for sick ground zero workers and lower Manhattan residents affected by the debris from the crushed remnants of the World Trade Center.
Boxer spoke in support of that legislation, chastising Republicans for praising first responders but not paying more for their care, saying on the Senate floor at the time: "Words are cheap."
A study of nearly 10,000 ground zero workers by Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York found most suffered some lung problems and many would remain sick the rest of their lives.
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9/11 first responders to speak at Pitt State
http://www.morningsun.net/stories/12...61206005.shtml
BY KATIE STOCKSTILL
THE MORNING SUN
12/6/2006
Although the 9/11 attacks occurred over five years ago, the stories of those who put themselves in danger are still vivid.
Two first responders to the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York City will be sharing their stories at 7 p.m. today at the Pittsburg State University Overman Student Center Crimson and Gold Ballroom.
The public is invited to attend the presentation, which will feature former National Guardsman David Miller and former New York policeman Craig Bartmer.
Miller and Bartmer will share their experiences and stories from the rescue missions and the health problems, caused by the rubble of the attacks, that are currently affecting both men. The men will also talk about the current push for a deeper investigation into the attacks, the rescue attempts and those affected by their involvement in the event.
The presentation is sponsored by The Constitutional Freedom Society of Pittsburg.
There is no charge for the event.
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EPA: Final WTC cleanup to begin in 2007
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/ne...-top-headlines
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
December 6, 2006, 2:55 PM EST
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will launch its final Sept. 11 contamination cleanup program next month, more than five years after the attacks and following years of criticism the agency still has not done enough.
The $7 million (€5.3 million) cleanup will test indoor spaces in lower Manhattan and will allow residents and building owners to have the air and dust in their living spaces tested for four contaminants linked to debris from the collapse of the World Trade Center towers.
The four contaminants are asbestos, fiberglass, lead, and polycyclic armoatic hydrocarbons.
The testing program's two-month registration period will begin in January, officials said.
"It is time to begin this final phase in EPA's response to the terrorist attacks of September 11," the agency's regional administrator, Alan Steinberg, said in a statement.
"The vast majority of occupied residential and commercial spaces in lower Manhattan have been repeatedly cleaned, and we believe the potential for exposure related to dust that may remain from the collapse of the World Trade Center building is low," said EPA official Dr. George Gray.
Officials could not say whether the new testing and cleaning program would be larger or smaller than the EPA effort in 2002 and 2003, which visited more than 4,000 units. They said the amount of testing and cleanup would depend largely on how many people call the agency's hotline to sign up for testing, but noted the cleanup cost is expected to be about $4 per square foot.
The announcement comes a day after the incoming head of the Senate Environment Committee, Sen. Barbara Boxer, a California Democrast, said she would push for full health coverage for ground zero workers sickened by their time at the disaster site.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Rep. Jerrold Nadler, both Democrats, have led a chorus of New York lawmakers complaining that the EPA did not live up to its responsibilities to protect public health in the hours, days, and months after Sept. 11.
The issue has also spawned an ongoing lawsuit in federal court against the EPA and then-administrator Christie Todd Whitman.
Nadler angrily dismissed the testing plan announced Wednesday.
"It's the same crap, the same phony cleanup, like the phony cleanup they did back in 2002," fumed Nadler, whose congressional district includes the ground zero site.
He has long argued that the testing area in lower Manhattan is arbitrary and does not reflect how far the dust traveled.
"We now have a Democratic majority in the Congress, and we will be holding hearings about this," Nadler said.
Clinton has called the EPA's new testing plan "incredibly frustrating and disappointing" because it does not expand the area tested. She charges that the agency "is essentially throwing up its hands and washing them of this problem."
The lawmakers' fight with the administration on 9/11 health matters began after the EPA asserted within days of the terrorist attacks that the dust from 1.8 million tons of World Trade Center debris posed no public health threat.
An inspector general's investigation concluded those assurances were issued after the agency was pressured by White House officials.
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9/11 responders speak at PSU
http://www.morningsun.net/stories/12...61207003.shtml
BY KATIE STOCKSTILL
THE MORNING SUN
12/7/2006
Many first responders to the 9/11 attacks in New York risked their lives to save others.
But now, many of those rescue workers are fighting for their own lives.
David Miller and Craig Bartmer both responded to the World Trade Center attacks.
Miller and Bartmer made the trip to Pittsburg Wednesday night to speak at Pittsburg State University about the health problems both are facing, which occurred after their involvement with the 9/11 rescue attempts.
"My personal message is that first responders are sick," Bartmer said. "I'm watching my friend David die. There are 8,500 people on one lawsuit alone, 400 which have rare cancers. But we have the city (New York City) and EPA saying it's not related. We're trying to rally support. We are trying to start a charity called 9/11 Care charity."
Miller and Bartmer are now traveling to spread their message to others.
Rebaccah Cereses, a documentary film maker, is also traveling with the men to help bring their stories to life and express the need for health care and support.
"This is not just a New York City problem," Cereses said. "It's a problem for our entire country. These first responders are not being treated with the respect they deserve. I can't sit back and do nothing while these people were so courageous."
Cereses said she got on board with the men's mission after hearing about the deadly diseases and conditions many first responders are now facing.
Mary Beth Norris said she had no idea many first responders were in such bad shape.
Norris, who attended the presentation, said she heard about the issue through her son, a student at PSU.
"It makes me wonder if we're not getting the whole truth," Norris said. "I wouldn't have known about all this if it wasn't for my son."
Bartmer said he is not speaking out for people's sympathy or money, he simply wants people to know about the terrible conditions facing thousands of first responders, people who risked their life for others and now cannot get the help they so desperately need.
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9/11 dust cleanup draws criticism
Plan to remove contaminants from buildings in N.Y. is similar to one rejected in 2005
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/4386926.html
By ANTHONY DEPALMA
New York Times
12/8/2006
NEW YORK — More than five years after contaminated dust from the World Trade Center seeped into apartments and offices throughout Lower Manhattan, the federal Environmental Protection Agency announced plans this week to start a final indoor cleanup program next month, despite widespread criticism that the program is seriously flawed.
Agency officials said residents and owners of commercial buildings south of Canal Street would have 60 days to sign up for the voluntary program, which will test for asbestos, lead, vitreous fibers and harmful soot that may have come from the collapse of the trade center.
If any one of the contaminants is found, the space will be professionally cleaned at no cost to the resident or owner.
The new program is almost identical to one that was rejected in November 2005 as inadequate by the agency's advisory panel of experts, as well as by community groups, labor unions and the city's congressional delegation. The City Council passed a resolution condemning that program, calling it "technically and scientifically flawed."
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., who in 2004 forced the environmental agency to test indoor spaces for contamination, called the program announced Wednesday "totally inadequate."
In a statement, she said she would use her chairmanship of the Senate Subcommittee on Superfund and Environmental Health in the new Congress to press for a more comprehensive testing and cleaning program.
In early 2005, the agency considered a broader program that would have used statistically based mapping to learn the extent of the contamination, following it outside Manhattan if needed. Under that program, If any dust could be conclusively linked to the trade center collapse, entire buildings, not individual apartments or offices, were to be vacuumed and wiped down to prevent recontamination from spaces that had not been cleaned.
The agency abandoned that program late last year when it could not devise a reliable way to identify trade center dust. It substituted a pared down program that would only test individual apartments in Lower Manhattan and clean only those where contamination was found. However, when community residents objected to the program as insufficient, the agency agreed to continue looking for a method of identifying dust from the twin towers.
On Wednesday, Alan J. Steinberg, regional administrator for the agency, said that effort had taken most of the last year but no viable method was found.
Paul J. Lioy, an environmental scientist at Rutgers who was a member of the advisory panel, said the program, though flawed, could do some good. "At least something is finally being done. If there is residual dust, we'll be able to find it."
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Money For 9/11 First Responder Health Care Running Out
http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index...id=1&aid=65167
December 18, 2006
Local lawmakers say the federal money paying the medical bills of September 11th first responders is running out.
Senator Clinton, Congressman Maloney and Congressman Fossella met with federal health officials today, who told them that government funding will run dry next year.
The legislators are calling for the president to add short term funds to keep the program going. And Senator Clinton introduced a bill that calls for $1.9 billion of long term federal aid. She is confident the new Democratic majority will approve the funds.
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9/11 First Responder Says Insurance Company Waiting For Him To Die
Thanks to www.rawstory.com
Click Here
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Hats
Click Here (10MB MOV)
Does everyone remember those individuals wearing FDNY and NYPD hats in honor of the fallen heroes from 9/11? Where are those people now? The other heroes of 9/11 are now sick and dying, and need their support more than ever. That's the premise of this little film. The music is "Where do we go from here" from a live performance of Chicago back in 1972 at Carnegie Hall.
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9/11 care for residents who can’t cough up cash
http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_19...identswho.html
By Skye H. McFarlane
1/5/2006
Dr. Joan Reibman is a busy woman. So busy, in fact, that she didn’t have time to come up with a job title for the work she does at the Bellevue Hospital World Trade Center Care Center, the 9/11 health clinic that will officially reopen this month with expanded space and services, thanks to a $16 million, five-year infusion of cash from the city.
“She runs it,” clinic program director Kymara Kyng said of Reibman’s involvement, shrugging her shoulders.
“So, I guess I’m the ‘runner,’” replied the energetic Reibman, flashing a smile. In addition to running the clinic, Reibman, a pulmonary (lung) specialist, is also the medical director of Bellevue’s Asthma Clinic and its associated research laboratory.
It was Reibman’s experience in treating asthma and other lung conditions that led her to become involved in post-9/11 health care, eventually creating the only treatment program that is open to the people who lived and worked in Lower Manhattan on or immediately after 9/11.
Other screening, monitoring and treatment programs for 9/11-related health conditions, such as those run by the Fire Department and Mt. Sinai Hospital, have strict eligibility requirements and are open only to first responders, cleanup workers and volunteers who worked in and around the World Trade Center site.
“There is the feeling that the first responders and the cleanup workers did something that was unbelievably heroic, and that’s absolutely true,” said Reibman. “So, many residents feel a little embarrassed that they actually are in need. But this is a population that did not choose to be impacted by this and who also need help.”
Reibman’s commitment to helping anyone affected by exposure to the asbestos- and fiberglass-filled dust and smoke created by the collapse of the Twin Towers has made her something of a hero to local community groups.
“She is the one doctor who sees Downtown residents. She’s been here since the beginning,” Catherine McVay Hughes, Community Board 1 co-chairperson, said at a Dec. 11 board meeting during which Reibman laid out the Bellevue clinic’s plans for its new funding.
Though the clinic has remained, and will remain, open throughout the expansion process, the “new” clinic will have its formal ribbon-cutting on a to-be-decided date in January. It is currently funded to run until the end of 2011, with a budget of just over $3 million per year.
The program has its roots in a 2002 door-to-door survey of residents’ health conducted by the Bellevue asthma clinic and the state Department of Health. That interaction with the community led to a 2003 plea from the Beyond Ground Zero Network, a group that advocates for low-income residents and workers.
Beyond Ground Zero asked if the asthma clinic would be willing to treat the uninsured residents and workers who were suffering respiratory problems after 9/11 — a population that couldn’t seem to find help anywhere else. Though short on personnel, space and funding, Reibman agreed and the asthma clinic began seeing 9/11 patients informally. In 2005, a $2.4 million grant from the Red Cross turned the informal service into an official W.T.C. clinic.
To qualify for treatment at the Bellevue clinic a patient need only feel that he or she is suffering from ill health related to World Trade Center dust and smoke exposure. However, because the program has a waiting list, the neediest patients — those with the most severe symptoms and no insurance — are prioritized for treatment.
Common symptoms that Reibman has seen include respiratory problems such as sinusitis, cough and shortness of breath. There have also been cases of acid reflux and skin rashes. Based on an extensive interview as well as blood tests, chest X-rays and breathing tests, Reibman and her staff determine whether or not a patient’s condition is W.T.C. related and then decide on a course of treatment.
Many patients have responded well to basic breathing medications, but others have needed referrals to specialists to treat nose, throat and gastric problems. Still others need referrals for non-9/11-related health problems like diabetes, which have worsened due to a lack of insurance. While the clinic provides its services and many of its medications for free, Reibman wishes she could do more to help her patients with their other health needs. Though the clinic provides referrals, the low-income patients, many of whom live or work in Chinatown, often cannot afford to follow up with another doctor.
In the expanded clinic, Bellevue will have more space and more physicians to accommodate an 800-patient roster that is growing. The clinic is spreading out on the second floor of Bellevue’s new ambulatory wing, an airy, glass-enclosed addition that wraps around the front of Bellevue’s main building at First Ave. and 27th St. The clinic also plans to add in-house psychological treatment as well as evening hours one day a week. The clinic currently sees 15 to 20 patients each day and can now serve these patients in nearly any language through the hospital’s high-tech translation system. Everything is so new that Reibman meticulously wipes dirt off her conference room table. She wants it to stay looking nice for a while, she says.
The changes and challenges of expansion have been both exciting and stressful for Reibman and her team. Hiring and training new full-time doctors and nurses to bolster the current staff of seven mostly part-time physicians has been particularly tricky, as World Trade Center ailments are an unstudied medical specialty. Therefore, a desire to work hand-in-hand with the community and its complex populations is imperative, Reibman said.
“It’s absolutely rewarding,” Kyng, whose background is in public health, said of working at the clinic. “You’re dealing with a lot of people with no access to health care. Many of them don’t speak English. The obstacles they face are nearly insurmountable.”
As a freelance sound designer with a rent-controlled apartment two blocks south of the World Trade Center site, Esther Regelson got to see those obstacles first-hand when her health started to suffer after 9/11. First, there was a thyroid problem. With no insurance, Regelson paid for treatment out of pocket. But then her asthma began getting progressively worse and she developed severe acid reflux. Still, the 47-year-old cycling enthusiast tried to ignore it, telling herself that she was “just getting old.”
“As a person without medical insurance, you try to avoid medical treatment. You don’t know how the other half lives,” Regelson said.
Despite working extensively with environmental groups to promote the cleanup of W.T.C. toxins and the safe demolition of contaminated buildings like 130 Liberty St. and Fiterman Hall, it never occurred to Regelson that her own worsening symptoms might be related to her 9/11 exposure. In addition to being in her 109 Washington St. apartment on 9/11, Regelson returned frequently in the subsequent months to supervise cleanup efforts in her building, moving back in for good just six months later. Like many tenants in the Greenwich South area, Regelson viewed her rent-controlled apartment as a set of “velvet handcuffs”— a wonderful thing, but something she could never find elsewhere in the city. So she stayed, dust or no dust.
In 2005, Regelson’s friend Kimberly Flynn, who heads up 9/11 Environmental Action, finally convinced her to get her symptoms checked out at the Bellevue clinic. The results have been very encouraging. After just one treatment cycle with a cocktail of respiratory medications, Regelson’s lung capacity jumped from 42 percent to 62 percent. She goes in for checkups every three months and her boyfriend compliments her on how quickly she can now speed up hills on her bicycle. The hospital was even able to arrange low-cost access to her thyroid medication.
“It’s invaluable,” Regelson said of the Bellevue program. “I never would have been treated. I had sort of accepted my lot in life with it, but I never realized alternative.”
To get treatment for a 9/11-related condition at the Bellevue W.T.C. clinic, potential patients should call 212-562-1720 and leave a message that includes their contact information and the best time to reach them. The clinic can respond to messages in English, Spanish, Mandarin, Polish and Cantonese.
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Nadler would cut Iraq war money; says 9/11 dough should flow
http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_19...ldcutiraq.html
By Josh Rogers
1/5/2006
U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler said he would try to cut off funds to continue the war in Iraq when the new Congress begins this week, but he is more optimistic about his prospects of getting federal money for the health of Downtowners and other Lower Manhattan projects.
During 12 years of Republican control of the House, Nadler has often spoken of what he would be able to do if the Democrats took it back, but now that the day has arrived, the change hasn’t quite sunk in.
“It’s really going to hit me on Thursday when we start winning rather than losing the votes,” Nadler told Downtown Express in a telephone interview Tuesday.
Nadler, who voted against the resolution authorizing the Iraq war in 2002, said “I would cut off funds” to stop it.
American dissatisfaction with the war was one of the biggest reasons Democrats won control of Congress in November according to exit polls, but since the election, Democratic leaders have repeatedly ruled out using their purse power to bring the troops home. Nadler said this is because the position is easy to attack as abandoning soldiers on the battlefield. The way to combat that, Nadler said, is to authorize the Pentagon to spend the necessary money to protect the forces as they withdraw, but not to continue the war.
Asked if he thought the Democratic leaders were too timid, he said “they’re being more timid than I would be,” but then said timid was the wrong word. His aide suggested “cautious,” and Nadler added “more cautious than I would be.”
Nadler has had a few conversations with new House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and he is bullish on the Wall St. area’s prospects in the new Congress.
He said he and Sen. Hillary Clinton will reintroduce their bill to provide Medicare coverage to any worker or resident whose health is suffering because of the environmental fallout of 9/11. About 70 percent of the World Trade Center site workers suffered health effects from 9/11 according to a Mount Sinai study, and based on that percentage, Nadler thinks at least 50,000 people are likely to use Medicare under the bill.
The total costs of the program would run in the billions, but Nadler said since Medicare already accepts about 2 million new recipients a year, it will not strain a system that provides health care to senior citizens. “Fifty to 100,000 is tiny,” he said. “Medicare can handle it.”
Under the bill, it would be up to doctors to determine if their patients’ respiratory or other problems were caused by the toxic dust spread with the collapse of the Twin Towers. Nadler’s optimistic about the bill’s chances but he said one obstacle will be if his colleagues require more concrete proof of a 9/11 cause. When asked if residents and office workers could get cut out of the bill so that only ground zero workers are covered, Nadler pointed to this evidence problem.
“It’s very difficult to prove,” he said. “If there is a split between residents and [recovery] workers, it will be that.”
The death of at least one W.T.C. worker has already been attributed to the disaster and Nadler said he will not be surprised at all if residents exposed to the dust get cancer in higher percentages 20 years from now. Many residents have developed respiratory ailments, although the cause has not been proven.
“We’re going to do a lot things on 9/11 health and environmental problems,” he said.
Nadler plans to hold hearings to expose what he called the “second cover-up” of 9/11 environmental problems. The first, in his view, was the danger to ground zero workers, which is not in dispute now, and the second is the danger to workers and residents who were exposed to the dust.
Right after 9/11, Environmental Protection Agency leader Christie Whitman said the air was safe to breathe before she had the evidence to back the claim. However, in interviews with Downtown Express in the months following the attack, E.P.A. officials said the air at the site was dangerous and that residents should assume the W.T.C. dust in their apartments was toxic.
The E.P.A. though, did not begin testing and cleaning Lower Manhattan apartments until a year after the attack. That program and its follow-up announced late last year was criticized by some scientists, Nadler, and many Downtowners.
In the new Congress, Nadler is expected to become chairperson of the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, where he could lead hearings on issues as wide ranging as gay marriage, which Nadler favors, as well as N.S.A. wiretapping and detentions without due process, which he has criticized.
He was the ranking member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in the last Congress, but since House members are allowed to lead only one committee or subcommittee, he will remain a senior member of Transportation. In the minority, Nadler was able to secure some earmarks for the Hudson River Park and many other projects in his district through this committee, but he is likely to have more clout in the 110th Congress.
He stopped short of saying his district would get more earmark money with his party in power, but he suggested that it is likely. Earmarks, or projects inserted into the federal budget by individual members, grew from about 3,500 a year to 14,000 under the Republicans, Nadler said, and one colleague told him they were weighted 17 to one in favor of the G.O.P. Even if Democrats keep a smaller percentage of the money than Republicans did, and there is a reduction in the number of overall earmarks, which have been criticized by many as being wasteful, he said his constituents may end up seeing more money.
His district includes almost all of Lower Manhattan, the Village, Chelsea, the Upper West Side as well as several Brooklyn neighborhoods, including Coney Island and Borough Park.
Nadler said with Democrats in control, he thinks he may be able to change the Verrazano Bridge tolls. Twenty years ago, Congress ended the Verrazano two-way toll system in deference to Staten Island politicians and residents. Nadler, some urban planners and environmentalists have long asserted that the change led to more pollution because it encouraged trucks to drive into already-congested Lower Manhattan.
Nadler has said many times over the years that if the Democrats got control of Congress, he could convince Sen. Chuck Schumer to support changing the tolls back. Nadler, who plans to meet with Schumer soon, said he will have a better sense in a few weeks what the chances were, but he suspects they’re good.
“I think the political stars are aligned in a way to do it,” he said.
Schumer’s spokesperson did not return a call for comment Wednesday.