Wall Street Journal article on 9/11 air quality risks

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

Speciai Vulnerability ’ According to another, hyi^esis Dr. Thurston and some other experts suggest, the barrage of contaminants in-the down­ town air might compromise some people’s immune systems, making them more vul- : nerable to pollutants at levels that wouldn’t ordinarily affect them. emitted by burning fuel and some types oi ;' More broadly, some people are genetl-: . plastics and can cause leukemia. As. re­ caSy predisposed to irritation-.&aas j^- cently as mid-December, EPA moniteing borne substances, helping to explam why equipment at the disaster site measured they may be suffering near ground zero benzene levels 400 times as high as the while others aren’t, scientists say. Stuart agency’s safety standard for continuous M. Brooks, an asthma specialist at the exposure over one year. The chemical dis­ University of South Florida’s .medical sipates quickly, the EPA says, but the school, says prior studies have agency has cautioned cleanup workers to betwen 10% and 20% of the populafioo has wear respirators. what he calls “hyper-responsive aimgs-' Drs. Alarie and Dalton both say the That means that cells in their Jungs anaffl majority of people exposed to low levels of breathing passages are more sensttivEta) environmental irritants, including VOCs, environmental irritants. Many of Uiese eventually become acclimated to them, people don’t know they have the condifi^ and symptoms recede. f . although they may have hay fever w rther Still, the EPA’s Ms. Callahan says the allergies, he says. agency has decided to start measuring Dr. Brooks says bis own research has s^ain soon for the compounds in the shown that environmental contaminants blocks around ground zero. The agency can trigger asthma in this sensitive popula­ also is expanding testing for some other tion, and he theorizes that has happened compounds. It will soon be looking at form­ near ground zero. If treated with inhaled aldehyde, a powerful irritant and possible steroids and other drugs, he says, most of carcinogen that can be produced by the these people will return to their pre«3qpo- burning of numerous materials, including sure health condition. furniture and carpets. Yet to some area residents, such predic­ Beyond VOCs, the gases and particles ' tions provide little reassurance. “There’s floating around lower Manhattan- may ' no way you can implode and bum 220 floors have combined in another way to cause of office space and not have repercussHms,” respiratory irritation, some scientists say. aaysT>onnaLueker,whousedtolivesev«al Sulfur dioxide, a common air pollutant blocks south of the World Trade Center, ha that comes from burning fuel, normally is the weeks after the collapse, she and her mostly filtered out by the nasal passages. tjsband ventured back to their apartment. But in the post-Sept 11 air, sulfin dioxide to retrieve belongings and came awaywith form the combustion of jet fuel and fire sinus infections and sore throats. diesel burned by cleanup vehicles may The couple, in their thirties, and tteir have attached to particles of other matter two-year-old boy have moved across 'the that move deeper into the throat or lungs, East River to Brooklyn. “Twenty years. according to NYU’s-Dr, Thurston. from now, I don’t want my sonto have-rare Jung,” Ms. Lueker says. —Loami Johurmes cofitributedtoffas^aiiide.

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