CANCER HITS 283 RESCUERS OF 9/11

NY Post ^ | June 11, 2006

[Grig]

Since 9/11, 283 World Trade Center rescue and recovery workers have been diagnosed with cancer, and 33 of them have died of cancer, says a lawyer for the ailing responders...

Doctors say the cancers can strike three to five years after exposure to toxins such as benzene, a cancer-causing chemical that permeated the WTC site from burning jet fuel...

"We have nearly 35 of these cancers in the family of 50,000 Ground Zero workers. The odds of that occurring are one in hundreds of millions," Worby said.

[Peach]

This is so sad. Those men witnessed destruction the likes of which most of us will never personally witness. They worked like dogs 24/7, lost their friends and family and now have to battle cancer. It's tragic.

[reagan_fanatic]

One wonders how many of those workers affected were using any breathing protection at all.

I saw lots of pictures of workers at the pile who were without face masks or any other type of protection.

[P.O.E.]

Next Saudi prince or Iranian mullah that shows up on US soil, slap him with a subpoena.

[durasell]

The EPA gave the "all clear" a few days after 9/11. People in the immediate area were returning to work and their homes within a week...

[Osage Orange]

Worby wouldn't lie now would he?

All depends on the meaning of "now".

[Zavien Doombringer]

Doctors say the cancers can strike three to five years after exposure to toxins such as benzene, a cancer-causing chemical that permeated the WTC site from burning jet fuel...

Benzene is found in all carbon bonds...

[HitmanLV]

They wanted all that easy overtime. While I admire the great work that the NYPD and NYFD have always done, there is no reason to significantly elevate them. Lots of NYPDers suck, and as far as the NYFD goes, nobody who gets that much easy sex gets an assist from me. :-)

[ExTexasRedhead]

Where's the fund to help these victims of 9/11?

[wtc911]

My own lung capacity is noticably diminished since then. We're just watching and waiting to see...

[sheana]

They wanted all that easy overtime.

What a juvenile thing to say from a person who knows absolutely nothing about firefighters.

[oceanview]

the connection here is 100% related to exposure at the WTC. you needed only to breathe the air, not just at the site itself, by anywhere in manhattan after 9/11, to know it. I guess there are alot of reasons why those people did not wear breathing masks, but certainly EPA screwed up here.

[staytrue]

Neighbor is FDNY. He now has asthma, didn't pre-9/11.

I developed adult onset asthma in 1992, before that I did not have it, and now I don't anymore since about 1998. Your neighbor is going to have tough sledding in a lawsuit.

Advair inhaled religiously for about 2 years seemed to have "cured" me.

[oceanview]

Silverstein is not at fault for this.

[aft_lizard]

I worked with jet fuel for years and havent had cancer(yet), of course the VA does ask if I was exposed to it.

[Peach]

Oh, no, wtc911. I didn't know. I'm so sorry to hear that.

[oceanview]

the personnel issues are meaningless, we all know why those "extra" people wanted to be there as bodies were removed, so let's not go there.

no one mandated to them they had to wear face masks. EPA and Christie Whitman were running around telling everyone their air samples were "fine".

[ClaireSolt]

You have a good point.

[durasell]

Christie Whitman hasn't been heard from in some time....

[reagan_fanatic]

The EPA gave the "all clear" a few days after 9/11. People in the immediate area were returning to work and their homes within a week...

I'm not sure I would have trusted the EPA's decision on this one. This was an unprecedented event never before seen and there was no way of knowing what the long term effects of breathing in the smoke from those fires would be, much less breathing in the dust from the fallen towers kicked up by people walking around or from the wind.

In any event, I have nothing but the utmost respect for those who spent so many long hours there helping to dig out the victims. God bless them all.

[oceanview]

exactly right. I guess they felt they didn't want to "evacuate" manhattan after 9/11 due to air quality issues, didn't want to have panic. but they should have mandated strict use of masks et al for people down there.