9/11 workers die after respiratory illnesses

CNN/AP ^ | 1/17/2006 | Unknown

[Alberta's Child]

If 9/11 has any connection to these illnesses, then I really have no sympathy for these people. The Giuliani administration made every attempt to reduce the number of recovery workers at Ground Zero in the aftermath of 9/11, but the police and firefighter unions fought to keep a lot of unnecessary people down there -- because the exorbitant overtime hours represented an enormous cash cow for their members.

[Coop]

I'd say it's a pretty darned strong argument.

[Coop]

If 9/11 has any connection to these illnesses, then I really have no sympathy for these people.

I do.

[TXBSAFH]

I Do have sympathy fot them, and prayers.

[Alberta's Child]

Hey, don't get me wrong. It's not like I would wish this kind of thing on anyone. But because I know that the post-9/11 recovery efforts basically became a huge racket for these municipal unions, I believe any attempt to connect these illnesses to 9/11 is utterly disingenuous unless it places a large portion of the blame squarely on the union officials who resisted every attempt on the part of the city government to keep unnecessary recovery personnel out of the recovery site.

[WV Mountain Mama]

They did a job that I would not want to do. I wonder how many bodies they helped to honorably remove from the debris of the WTCs. Thank you for the input that people who were doing a horrible job that needed to be done got what they deserved. I am sure their children will appreciate your kind sentiments. I think you can stuff it.

Prayers for these victims, and all the victims of September 11, and their families.

[Dick Vomer]

Sounds like a press release from an attorney.

bingo...

the real question is how many men of comparable age in a given population died of pneumonia, pulmonary embolism, heart disease....

I've got news for some ... "we're all gonna die of something". The only question is ,"can I find a lawyer for my family to make a profit from it.".

i can just see all the little piggy lawyers lining the new "victims" up to suck on the government tit for "compensation"...this will make the asbestos tobacco,vioxx and silicon settlements small by comparison....

Beautiful.

[Coop]

I believe any attempt to connect these illnesses to 9/11 is utterly disingenuous unless it places a large portion of the blame squarely on the union officials who resisted every attempt on the part of the city government to keep unnecessary recovery personnel out of the recovery site.

Yeah, I'd agree with that.

[mewzilla]

Coop, we had a family member who worked on the pile for a while.

[dirtboy]

The guys who worked at the WTC site in the days/weeks/months following its collapse were breathing in God-only-knows-what during that time.

And the beams for the first thirty floors, I believe, had been coated in asbestos, so that was thick in the air.

[mewzilla]

The article specifically identified at least two of the three as non-smokers.

"I'm very fearful," said Donald Faeth, an emergency medical technician and officer in a union with two of the ground zero workers who died last year.

Forgive me if I take this particular source of that info with a grain of salt.

[Coop]

Coop, we had a family member who worked on the pile for a while.

God bless 'em for it. Has this person had any persistent respiratory problems?

[mewzilla]

Had a cough for a while, but he's been fine. You've got FReepmail :)

[Ford4000]

Was he prevented from wearing a respirator? Did he wear one?

Almost certainly, no and no. He should have taken his body's hint. They make a world of difference when doing dirty jobs.

[Coop]

You have no insight into what he did or didn't do.

[Blzbba]

"The guys who worked at the WTC site in the days/weeks/months following its collapse were breathing in God-only-knows-what during that time"


God isn't the only one who knows what. It's called "asbestos".

[Gay State Conservative]

God isn't the only one who knows what. It's called "asbestos".

It's called asbestos....and jet fuel vapors...and the vapors of burning materials that coated electrical wiring....and concrete "dust"....

[Ford4000]

His coughing is evidence that he did not.