Posted on 04/29/2006 2:30:42 PM PDT by neverdem
A doctor overseeing a federal effort to determine the health impact of exposure to ground zero dust said anecdotal evidence suggested that breathing in the smoke and ash that hung over the area after the towers' collapse could lead to illness. But he stopped short of coming to any firm conclusion, and said that a rigorous scientific study would be required.
Dr. John Howard, the director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, made the comments at a news conference yesterday with members of New York's Congressional delegation.
He cited the deaths of three rescue workers whose health declined after working at ground zero and reports of illness from thousands of people who were in Lower Manhattan during and after the attack as indications that the debris and fumes from the trade center might have been harmful.
"Sometimes it takes us in science years," he said, "in terms of making absolutely definitive connections of a causal nature between exposure and health effect."
But, he added, "Common sense would say, gee, we have a lot of people here in New York who were entirely healthy before 9/11 and now they're not, and that's common sense type of science, if you will."
Dr. Howard is gathering extensive data — from health providers, various agencies and others — to see whether the air at ground zero caused health problems.
It is important "to ensure scientific reporting in the peer review literature," he said.
Dr. Howard started coordinating federal 9/11 health programs and collecting data on health effects in February, a month after James Zadroga, a detective who worked at ground zero, died. Earlier this month, a medical examiner in New Jersey determined that Detective Zadroga died as a result of the toxic dust that he breathed after 9/11.
The New York...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
The coroner found material ``consistent with dust'' in Zadroga's lungs and damage to his liver and said his heart and spleen were enlarged.
It's too bad the actual autopsy report is not available, but it might be a violation to make it public.
ping
9/11 itself was caused by people with a mental illness.
Toxic jihadosis. There is only one cure..
Amen.
This was common knowledge among rescue workers in the days after 9/11.
I remember having this coversation with a construction manager who knew workers at the site. We said at the time, these workers will have drastically shortened lives due to the crap they were breathing in. Pulverized silica dust from concrete, asbestos, radioactive material from thousands of smoke detectors, chemicals from tens of thousands of fluorescent light bulbs.
Noone should pretend they did not see this coming.
Didn't people wear protection?
It is very regretable but would not be not surprising. As part of my profession, I recently authored a chapter for one of the new Air Quality Criteria Documents the EPA must produce this year (which plays a role in the setting of air stardards on specific air polutants). When you have widespread exposure to such a mixture of toxic pollutants at significantly increased levels, it does have health consequences. The people who responded to and survived the tragedy and who helped those in need are all the more the heros for their effort.
Mad cow disease in U.S. is rare, USDA says
WiFi Fears Are Nothing But Hype
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