News article on WTC health risks uncertainty, Oct 2002

NYC-WTC 000141797 The air of uncertainty Experts weigh health risks of twin towers fires:& dust SHIN BUETTNER HEWS STAY WRITERS ome people living or near Ground Zero -ta Have faced serious health risks since: Sept. 11, Büt enviioomelital experts. sấy they don't khow enough to be certath aboutlộng term harm. Forrmonths, toxic contamina tion ih the smoking rubble and lowing dust from the site rrorist attacks has promøt- ears of illness amone wheez- ng firefighters and rescue wöfk- ersr anxious , students, office wörkers and casual passersby Health officials now beliève that most of those affected -ex- cepting unprotected workers at Ground Zero directly exposed t töxins — are fot likely to surfer permaneni damage to their health from any single pollutaht That tenuous assurance coffes with an urisettling Caveat: Scientists know next to nothin i the effectsior the unpreco defted mix öt häzärdous süb- iees at the aisaster siten That aluded troubling amounee Ncer-causing agents 3 CCBS ken lortad verv fast that hat hoara Bcamvavo think some people are just never göing to want to belleve that." Say safety overstated Mote information may, come atia hearine tomorrow reguest- ed bý Sen. Hillary Clinton (D- N.Y.), and an investigation by thẻ environmental Protectior Agency's ombudsman. *I think people want definitive antwets, and there aren't any." ald Regina Santella, a profes sor at ColumbiaUniversity' Mällman School of Public Health. But many people think govern- ment officials have overstated safety at the site. Two days after the attacks, an EPA press release called initial test rosults "reassuring." It cited "nô aabestos or very low levels" and Said other compounds *were not detectable or rot of concern." Ơn Sept: 18, EPA Administra- tor Christie Whitman issued a statémönt reassuring "the peo- ple of New York and Washing- ton, D.6, that thelr alr is safe to breetto anditheir water is safe to di ne EPX also cautioned site ito yoat reaptrators and told Terants, to be carefu in cleanin up frade Center düst. -Bur Whitman's géneral assür- anices sresohated löudest swlth hany among them firefighters, *Ho th ton shunned respiratots. Wegave precautions but hac pesble heard overwhelm- holy & that everything down rossjust perfectly safe," said dien Cervantes, ati EPA The EPA didn't re- lease data to support its conclusions until late October, ünder pressure from an en- virormental law group. The data showed that benzene - a known cancer-caus- ing: substance found In emis- sions from burning coal and oll products -had been detected at levels 58 times above federal workplace standards. Hearine that, many felt misled by the ear- ller assurances. "There were plenty of opportu- nities for them to say, 'Hey, look we/Just dorow said Joshua Rockoft 25, who lives in Battery Park City. The benzene figure by Itselt is startling, but the ständard is based on consistent exposure - elght hours a day, 40 hours a week - over 30 years. No one came close to that exposure. Santélla, who studies the im- pact. of, patcet, sttd tle ben on cancer the benzene reading Indicates that only workers in the rubble face any risk. taken almost below Iground level, directly over the ,fire," Santella sald. "Butif you looklat a sample that Was taken a few feet away, it's low." However. many who took Whit- man's assurance at 'face value no longer trust the EPA. Flrefighter union officlals ac- cuise the agency of overstating, sefety to appear in control think that was the message they to send out, and I think we were attemptingave a problem now because of that message, said Tom Butler, a spokesman for the Uniformed Firefighters Assoclation: Perhaps the, most sustained cause for worry has been asbes- tos, a fire returdant used fnthe пужеон-овл.ялнс-нк, мно Trade Center. It becathe part of thè süperfine dust that pervaded apartments and offices. The EPA said outdoor tests for asbestos showed nö cause för: concern. But responsibility for indoor samples fell to the city Department of Health, which still hash't released results. Nelghbors affected Left in the breach, landlords, tenants and businesses had to decide for themselves whether to pay for costly asbestos testing and abatement or jüst mop up Howard Tisch, 62, a who lives in Battery Park City, said he and his wife, Carol Tlsch; decided tó pay a lab to an- alyzé samples from theit höme. "It showed allowablè levels but it was there - more than normal, but less than what they sald was hazardöus," he said. Daily News Infs NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document