More Proof WTC First Responders Exposed to Deadly Chemicals

Omaha Steve

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Wed Aug-02-06 03:16 PM
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More Proof WTC First Responders Exposed to Deadly Chemicals

Full story: http://blog.aflcio.org/2006/08/02/more-proof-wtc-first-responders-exposed-to-deadly-chemicals/

More Proof WTC First Responders Exposed to Deadly Chemicals

The health news for the emergency workers�firefighters, paramedics and police officers�who worked in the rubble of the World Trade Center after the Sept. 11 terrorists attacks continues to grow grimmer.

A new study shows the nearly 12,000 firefighters and emergency medical workers who took part in the ground zero rescue and recovery operations experienced such severe trauma to their lungs that their lungs aged the equivalent of 12 years in the year following the attack�putting them at risk for chronic lung problems later in life.

Tests on the emergency workers show that in the year after the attacks their lung capacity declined to a point that doctors say would normally take 12 years of aging to reach.

The study, published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, identified some 400 chemicals mixed together in the toxic dust and dirt stew at ground zero.

But immediately after the attacks, then-Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Christine Todd Whitman assured the public the site was safe. It was revealed last week the Bush administration gave Whitman the right to bury embarrassing EPA documents about the chemicals and other hazards by classifying them as secret.

The study says 50 percent of the ground zero emergency workers report cases of what�s called �World Trade Center cough�; 42 percent experience shortness of breath when exercising; 24 percent have wheezing problems; and 21 percent experience chest pain or tightness.

The study�s authors say they are conducting examinations to determine if the workers� lung functions continue to deteriorate and if the reported pulmonary health problems have worsened.

A little more than a year ago, President Bush vetoed a bill that included $90 million to monitor the health of rescue and cleanup workers who were at ground zero. In June, hundreds of union members and their allies rallied at ground zero to demand funding for the long-term health needs of workers who are suffering from serious ailments linked to their ground zero work following Sept. 11.

Meanwhile, the New York Daily News recently published a series detailing the health suffering of the World Trade Center emergency workers.

The magnitude of the epidemic has worsened for five years as every level of government has failed to face the reality of what happens when large numbers of people without proper respiratory protection are exposed for long periods to air thick with toxic substances.

Responsibility runs from the federal government, where then-Environmental Protection Administrator Christie Whitman falsely assured 9/11 responders that the air was safe, to the New York State Health Department, which abandoned a program designed to monitor the health of 9,800 state and National Guard personnel, to the New York City Health Department, which has yet to issue treatment guidelines for physicians.

This on my fellow AFSCME members that have died from being first responders!

http://www.afscme.org/publications/3563.cfm

NEW YORK CITY

Cancer directly linked to asbestos has claimed the life of Deborah Reeve, a Local 2507 (DC 37) paramedic in New York City who was a first-responder at Ground Zero. Two 9/11 � and Local 2507 � colleagues perished some four years after beginning work at Ground Zero: EMT Tim Keller, 41, from complications of respiratory distress; and EMT Felix Hernandez, 31, from lung disease.

Family members say Reeve, who was 40, developed a persistent cough after working at the disaster site, and two years later was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a fatal cancer triggered by breathing airborne asbestos fibers.

Survivors of these AFSCME members have not received increased pension-fund payments from New York state for work-related injury resulting in death. "It's difficult to prove that the diseases are work related," explains Lee Clarke, director of Safety and Health for DC 37, which represents more than 3,000 rescuers and responders in the city. "If you jab yourself with a needle and get hepatitis C, you can prove injury. But 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina demonstrate that pension-compensation laws have not been written in ways that protect first-responders for illnesses resulting from disaster-related work."