19% increase in the risk of cancer for WTC firefighters - Lancet

[malaise]

Firefighters who endangered their lives trying to save people have paid a long-term price: a 19%higher risk of cancer as a result of exposure to toxic fumes, according to a study published in a special Lancet series to mark the 10th anniversary of the atrocity. Other research in the series reveals the scale of mental and physical damage suffered by rescuers and witnesses.

Dr David Prezant, chief medical officer of New York City fire department, and colleagues studied the firefighters, together with others from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University, and Montefiore Medical Centre, New York.

"Most firefighters have learned there are different smells to fires. They repeatedly said to us that this area smelled different. They said this was unlike any other firefight we've had before."

But this did not stop them risking their lives. "We have a unique group of people. On 9/11 the firefighters ran into these towers, many of them after the south tower had collapsed, with nothing in their minds except saving everyone who was in there. We concentrate on the nearly 3,000 people who died there and the 343 firefighters who died that day, as we should, but we should never forget that 20,000 to 30,000 people were evacuated from that building because of the heroic efforts of these responders.
:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:
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Don't expect any funds from ReTHUGS firefighters - their patriotism is only for the rich!!

[Eddie Haskell]

1. Have you ever heard of Piotr Chmielinski?

The Further Explorations of Piotr Chmielinski
From the Colca to the Amazon to Ground Zero
By Mark Jannot

Piotr Chmielinski, one of the world's greatest river explorers, turns his attention—and his legendary determination—to the tainted air at Ground Zero in New York City.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/0201/story.html

I met Piotr when he gave a talk to our kayak club. Piotr's DC environmental firm worked at the towers after the first bombing and was first on the scene after 911. His refusal to keep quiet about the asbestos fibers led to his firm's removal.