Wall Street Journal article on 9/11 air quality risks

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

"Tes^ • • : One of the most worrisome di^^^ a type of environmentally induced asthmm he says. Wlule most upper-respiratory pro> lems^ away, this strain of asthnia can^ with aperson for alifetime, causmgwheez- ing from exposure to even minor irritants, such as cigarette smoke. John Graham, 39 years old, never i^ to have any breathing problem, rae are thousands of gases and aerosols, indud- health-and-safety instructor lor the loc^ ing benzene, toluene, and forroaMehyde. carpenters union joined rescue efforts^ a The EPA says it isn’t wmnea about the volmteer during the S^st few days ato health threat of VQCs in lower Manhattan. Sent U. Although he used to be a rrcre- Although some of its tests for more than 60 Uioxin levels also briefly exceeded EPA ational runner, he says merely mowtag VOCs have shown unsafe levels directly thresholds in some locations near ground the lawn at his New Jersey home to M over burning fires, the agency says these zero in the weeks after the disaster, but they was tiring. A dry cough dogs him, and ^d ' gases have quickly dissipated. EPA testers fell within safe ranges thereafter. Dioxin, a mornings seem to damp down on his che^ report that by the time the gases rose from type of chemical released by burning wood so hard it feels “like an elephant is step­ the ground to nose level, they were unde­ and some plastics, can cause cancer and ping on your lungs,” says Graham, tectable. ’The agency stopped monitoring may lead to reproductive problems. who is now a patient of Dr. Levm s. VOCs beyond the disaster site in late Sep­ Citing the generally sanguine federal The New York Fire Department says tember and believes the chemicals “don’t test results, as well as their own testing, more than 1,600 firefighters have had r^ pose any long-term risk,” says Ms. Calla­ some employers, including Merrill Lynch piratory ailments related to working han, the deputy regional administrator. & Co. and the law firm Cleary. Gottlieb, ground zero. The firefighters umon^^ But VOCs may have caused some of the Steen & Hamilton, have returned to build­ about 400 firefighters have ailmente seri­ symptoms experienced by downtown work­ ings close to ground zero. Dow Jones & ous enough to put them on medical 1p"^ ers and residents. Pamela Dalton, a sen­ Co., publish^ of The Wall Street Journal, Several substances are considered sory-irritation researcher at the nonprofit has said the removal of asbestos at its likely causes of the ailments. One » Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadel­ offices across the street from the disaster ment dust created in huge quantities by phia, says numerous studies have found site is taking longer than expected. The the collapse of the towers. Cement con- that VOCs can irritate eyes and the respira­ company says that it plans to return half tory tract at low, nontoxic levels. Even if a of its displaced workers but that they given chemical isn’t present in sufficient won’t come back until April at the earliest XBases andparddes nuiy quantity to be annoying, or even measur­ able, she says, “if you combine hundreds of Scant Comfort Tuivecornbined to cause them, they may cause irritoon.” Yet, for the more than 100 people who Part of the problem. Dr. Dalton says, is have come to Moimt Sinai Medical Center complaining of respiratory problems, the irritaiion in ways health that the largest study of combined VOCs involves just 22 of the gases. No one has federal tests are scant comfort Stephen Levin, director of the hospital’s occupa- experts dont understand. examined anything close to the scale of the combination of gases at the trade cen­ tional-health center, says most of the pa­ ter site. “We have hundreds of VOCs” at tients work in offices near ground zero ground zero. Dr. Dalton says. “It’s poten­ and haven’t been involved in rescue or tially more potent” - cleaniqj. Only a handful were caught in the Sept. 11 debris storm. Their diagnoses have included bronchitis, an inflammation in the lungs, arid sinusitis, or inflamma-. 3^^ When the dust hits the water protecting Yves C. Alarie, a University of Pitts­ burgh professor of toxicology who studies the health effects ofVOGs, agrees that at lev­ els likely present irilower Manhattan, these tion of the sinus cavities. Many of the pa; the cornea, for instance, it causes a chem- compounds “are not a long-term health is­ cal reaction that leads to inflammation. sue.” Still, he says, they can cause coughs •Another possible problem: Jits of and throat irritation. The EPA, he says, glass.mostlyfrom disintegrated buildmgta-, . isn ’t “doing any relevant measurement for f, Nation. An analysis of du^toen near the acute symptoms people are feeling.” ground zero on Sept 12 JY NW Mieni^ ; The agenc/t Web site, www.epa.gav, conduded that an astomshtag 30% to 40% lists daffy test results at ground zero to si consisted of fibergla^. The-fr»8i^ « ■ only one VOC. benzene. 'That chemical ls Ij probably long enough-most Wer | 1/100 of a millimeter-that they out by the nose or naturally expelled from the togs. Dr. Thurston says. As a result. they probably won’t cause long-term Wt- ratoiy problems. But the fragment might -journal irritate sensitive tissue that lines the eyK, nose and throat, he says. \ O' EPA does '1 even measure such p^dte. because they are believed to be too large to cause serious long-term harm. J0P3 The fires that smoldered at ground : -^--consumingco£nputers,nylon ca^-

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