Toxic dust legacy of 9/11 plagues thousands of people (BBC)

[eppur_se_muova]

By David Shukman
Environment & science correspondent, BBC News

More than 18,000 people are suffering from illnesses linked to the dust from the attacks on New York's World Trade Center on 11 September 2001.

The figure comes from the US government's monitoring and treatment programme for 9/11 emergency workers, volunteers and local residents.

The most common afflictions are respiratory problems including asthma and sinusitis, but muscular and intestinal conditions are reported as well.

The senior US official managing the health legacy of the attacks warns that early deaths are possible among the survivors.

'Scarred lungs'

Dr John Howard, Director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, told BBC News it was "plausible" that people would die of exposure to the dust.
***
more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14738140




Well, who was it that claimed the air was safe to breathe? Oh, yeah ...

[Demeter]

1. And why do we have to get our national news from overseas?

[Politicalboi]

2. Well DUH!

When tons of Asbestos is floating around, it's gonna kill a lot of people. And Christine Whitman also ok'd the air too.
Rudy on his death bed. Sir what caused your illness? His last words will be 9/11. At least he will get one more shot at it.

[Bennyboy]

3. Bush ORDERED the EPA to lie about the air

EPA Misled Public on 9/11 Pollution
White House ordered false assurances on air quality, report says
by Laurie Garrett

NEW YORK -- In the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center, the White House instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to give the public misleading information, telling New Yorkers it was safe to breathe when reliable information on air quality was not available.

That finding is included in a report released Friday by the Office of the Inspector General of the EPA. It noted that some of the agency's news releases in the weeks after the attack were softened before being released to the public: Reassuring information was added, while cautionary information was deleted.

"When the EPA made a September 18 announcement that the air was 'safe' to breathe, it did not have sufficient data and analyses to make such a blanket statement," the report says. "Furthermore, the White House Council on Environmental Quality influenced . . . the information that EPA communicated to the public through its early press releases when it convinced EPA to add reassuring statements and delete cautionary ones."


BUSH ADMINISTRATION: NYC AIR 'SAFE TO BREATHE'
The Statue of Liberty stands in the foreground as New York is shrouded in smoke and pollution in New York image made from television, Tuesday Sept. 11, 2001. (ABC via APTN)
On the morning of Sept. 12, according to the report, the office of then-EPA Administrator Christie Whitman issued a memo: "All statements to the media should be cleared through the NSC (National Security Council in the White House) before they are released." The 165-page report compares excerpts from EPA draft statements to the final versions, including these:

The draft statement contained a warning from EPA scientists that homes and businesses near ground zero should be cleaned by professionals. Instead, the public was told to follow instructions from New York City officials.

Another draft statement was deleted; it raised concerns about "sensitive populations" such as asthma patients, the elderly and people with underlying respiratory diseases.
READ MORE: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0823-03.htm