Posted on 01/08/2006 11:12:51 AM PST by saquin
A young police detective who spent nearly 500 hours sifting through rubble at Ground Zero has died of a lung disease connected to his cleanup efforts, police union officials said yesterday.
James Zadroga, 34, who died Thursday at his parents' New Jersey home, retired from the NYPD in July 2004 because of his deteriorating health. He is the first emergency worker to die from constant exposure to the Sept. 11 wreckage at the World Trade Center, said Michael Palladino, president of the Detectives' Endowment Association.
A high-ranking police source said the department does not have the medical authority to link Zadroga's death to his work at Ground Zero.
An autopsy was being done by the Ocean County, N.J., medical examiner's office.
Zadroga was inside Building 7 at the World Trade Center when it began to collapse on the afternoon of Sept. 11, 2001. After narrowly escaping death, he spent nearly 500 hours over the next month and a half at the site, searching for victims amid tons of debris and dirt, Palladino said.
According to Palladino, many detectives even stayed at the site beyond their daily tours of duty, working on their own time.
Zadroga became ill about a month after returning to the Manhattan South Precinct in late 2001. He died at his parents' home in Little Egg Harbor, N.J., of black lung disease and mercury on the brain, Palladino said.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
The EPA came out right after 911 and told everyone that the air quality was not going to hurt anyone. I will never forget that!
How The Donald spends his own money is his own business...
More deaths the monsters are responsible for. Unfortunatly we will hear of more in the years to come.
If he didn't wear appropriate protective gear he was perhaps brave but foolish. I sincerely hope much more work has gone into preparing for such catastrophes in the future. Yes rescues are important but are they worth the additional cost in lives due to ill equipped, improperly trained "heroes"?
His death is senseless and, apparently, he leaves behind an orphaned child. There's probably more cases like his to come if indeed his death is traceable to exposure at the WTC site.
I have taught similar types of classes. However, actually performing heavy work while wearing full PPE is something entirely different, which I have also done. I've always taught students that eight hours in a negative-pressure respirator is the equivalent of at least twelve without, when it comes to wear and tear on the user.
I really don't think someone could work effectively for 80 to 100 hours a week for weeks on end wearing such equipment. They might be able to put the hours in, but they wouldn't accomplish much. IMHO.
Prayers for him.
Mercury on the brain is not a diagnosis.
I still can't forget that mindless reporter "babe" gathering up a handful of ash in her hand at ground zero not even thinking it could contain human remains. In her mind it could only be the remains of burned work product.
If not wearing protective equipment significantly increases the possibility of rescuing survivors, then it might make sense.
Once the possibility of survivors is past, it makes no sense to risk additional human lives.
This was due to contracts we had with Electric Boat. Hg and nuclear fuel are not good playmates in submarines. Speculation is this is why the Thresher went down in the 1960s.
Office buildings are chock full of all sorts of toxic stuff. Toss in all the computers and other items that would have been in a building that size and you have a lot of toxic soup. The office building I worked in in Hollywood had a warning label in the main lobby about the toxic stuff in it.
This one isn't passing the smell test. Black lung comes from coal dust exposure. I can see trying to claim problems arising from asbestoes exposure, but how much coal was used in the construction of the WTC. The 'mecury on the brain' diagnosis strikes me as being equally ignorant.
I suspect a planned raid against the taxpayers.
Thirty-four-year-old James Zadroga died Thursday from brain and respiratory complications.
The detective spent hundreds of hours searching for victims at the World Trade Center site in 2001. About a year after the attacks, he became too sick to work and retired from the NYPD.
You had to find a way to fix it, some how.
Yup
Protective gear? I only remember seeing hard hats. And gloves.
bump
No
This is the UNION pushing this. It has not be verified. The union is looking for more handouts.
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