News article on toxin anxieties at Ground Zero, undated

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

cause for a 3-year-old, there is no safe level of toxins." "I think the problem has moved Another rift has emerged over inside to a tot of buildings," says whether schools remain unsafe. Joel Kupferman, executive director Seven downtown schools were of the New York Environmental relocated after Sept. 11, and stu­ Law and Justice Project "What we dents have been returning on a have is many time bombs that are staggered schedule after their ticking, that only after full testing, schools are cleaned and declared monitoring (and) proper cleanup safe. Two reopened Monday. ... will we know if the situation is Students at Stuyvesant High safe." School, one of the city’s prenuer g. t-r B V-- One independent industrial hy­ gienist retained by Kupferman’s or­ ganization took samples at a 52- high schools, located a few blocks from Ground Zero, went back in October, Some parents say their story apartment complex down­ children have suffered from rashes, town after the building cleanup nosebleeds and other health prob­ By MflCMK UwM. USA TOOAV began and came up with a reading lems since returning. of 550,(XM) asbestos fibers per The barge where debris from acceptable standards for adults square centimeter. The acceptable Ground Zero is being toted each and children. limit is 500-1,000 fibers per square day sits in the Hudson River next to Unhealthful levels of dioxins and centimetec "It’s definitely an in­ the school, and that continually PCBs measured by the EPA have exposes the students to toxins, been concentrated only _over dication that there’s a high level of parents and environmental activ­ Ground Zero, where workers must asbestos in the building." Kupfer­ ists say. wear protective equipment while man says. Fernando Pacifico noticed that removing debris from the site EPA officials say city agencies his 17-year-old daughter has not Even so, some residents in the were in charge of indoor testing in been well since returning to Stuy­ area say they believe that officials Lower Manhattan. But the EPA still vesant. Since she was a freshman, were premature in declaring it safe advised that homes and business­ she had missed about three school to return to Lower Manhattan es be professionally cleaned. - days a year. But since October, she shortly after the attacks. “We have from the start been has been out six days, sick with a “I don't know if they intentional­ clear that what we found on the sore throat or headache. ly misled us, but they seem to have outside was likely to have gotten “Basically, they moved the given conflicting statements," resi­ inside people’s apartments," Bel­ World Trade Center debris right dent Dennis Gault says about the low says. “And if people were re­ behind the school," says Pacifico, EPA "My concern is for the chil­ turning to dusty offices and homes, who is a physician. dren in the neighborhood.... The they could assume that that ma­ School board officials say the asbestos, over 20 or 30 years, God terial was asbestos-containing and downtown schools now have knows what will be the effects. that they needed to get that ma­ thicker ventilation filters. The in­ And then the PCBs and the heavy terial cleaned up using professional door and outdoor air quality is metals are also quite frightening.” contractors." tested daily. Some people say they want the Nevertheless, school board Testing indoors EPA to step in and oversee the in­ spokeswoman Catie Marshall con­ door cleanup. Others say the city cedes that such precautions may On Sept 11, Gault’s wife called has foiled to look out for those in not be enough. him at work. He rushed to their Lower Manhattan. “OveralL the re­ “It’s easy to test air and find the apartment in Gateway Piaza, about sponsibility for coordinating envi­ air contains nothing hazardous," 300 yards from the World Trade ronmental response beloriged to she says, “It's harder to convey that Center. He shut the windows, then the city of New York." s^s Eric message to people who are ner­ •^ve put the baby in the stroller, Goldstein of the Natural Resources vous." and we ran for our lives." Defense Council. Lisa Phillips owns an apartment When Gault returned home a City health officials say that be­ in Tribeca, near the Trade Center week later, he noticed a dark pow­ fore any building was reoccupied, site, and lives there with her 2- der coated the apartment, he re­ landlords were required to proper­ year-old twins. They moved aw^ calls. Gault, 36, had to toss away ty assess the building’s safety. The briefly after Sept. 11. most of the furniture and his 3- health department issued an ad­ Now, she says, the air has largely year-old daughter’s toys. The visory on how to adequately clean cleared, though questions remain. apartment has been cleaned building interiors, and the dry’s “It’s home," Phillips says. “And in twice, but a residue remains, he Department of Environmental such unsettling times, there’s com­ s^. "There was no testing of the Protection handles any specific fort in being home, even If home is air in my apartment that 1 know of, concerns about a building. close to Ground Zera" so 1 don’t know what the levels of asbestos were or the other toxins," Then, there are the schools says Gault, a teacher. He went back home in Decem­ ber to be closer to his job, while his wife and daughter continue to st^ with his in-laws. But he says his family may have to rent another t apartment "Before they come back, I’d like to have my apartment tested." says Gault who does not have renter’s insurance to cover the costs. "After ail the cleanup Eve done myself and the cleaning by others, ifthere’s stiD levels of toxins I in here, Pm gomg to rdocate. Be­

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