News article on asthma monitoring grant, Oct 2002

LZ8LVLOOO OLM-OAN QALY NEWS STAFF WRITERS the twin towers. The money, which will come - in a grant from the the Centers : for Disease Control and Preven- -tion, also will be used to assess the health of rescue and con- struction workers who have la- bored at the World Trade Cen- ter site since the Sept. 11 at- tacks. Officials worry that the num- ber of asthma cases and other respiratory problems will rise. “We must make sure asthma patients are cared for properly Trade Center attack,” federal in the afte-matn of the World . Federal officials promised $5 million to the city and state yesterday to examine homes and schools near Ground Zero for pollutants and to monitor po- tential health problems caused by the collapse of Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said. State Health Department offi- cials said they will closely watch hospital emergency rooms to see whether there is a spike in asthma cases. “Simply the stress that result- ed from this terrible tragedy could contribute to increased incidence of asthma,” said ‘Health Department spokes- woman Kris Smith. Gov. Pataki said the state will auun Le ee Se RE We Pidrt bbe hate atest launch a public awarenes*> cam- paign about the dangers of asth- ma. While state and local health officials have deemed air quali- ty around the Trade Center site safe, a private environmental firm has found alarming levels of cancer-causing asbestos in the air. Officials at HP Environmen- tal Inc. said seven of 11 air sam- ples they took in buildings ‘ three blocks from Ground Zero contained asbestos levels above federal standards. Deputy Mayor Joe Lohta said the federal Environmental Pro- tection Agency was looking into the HP report. EPA standards call for asbes- tos decontamination proce- dures when levels reach 70 fi- bers per square millimeter. HP officials said three of their sam- ~ 4s lgst sh loart>., ord Akar ue ee Chaves Mel babes ang wares isn, yrans ‘eb. was, baal i pledged to clear air Feds funding WTC pollution tests ples contained more than 300 fi- bers per square millimeter. “The EPA is looking into this study that was done by an out- side group,” Lohta said. “We're going by the federal EPA stan- dards right now, and EPA is . also doing their own testing and they’re not finding the same results as this indepen- dent study.” Asbestos was used in 1 World Trade Center up to the 40th floor. The substance was banned in 197] as the Trade Center was being bu’ . The EPA also has sa {the lev-. els of dioxin in water amples from the 13th St. pump station were not elevated. Water samples from the Hud- son River and the East River contained amounts of PCBs and asbestos that were “below - sad of concern,” officials Tr) sunt dawibests ue SMGN AliVG TO00Z ‘OT 4aq0190 ‘Aepseupayy yUSWNIO [EYOd_d IIGNd L1L/6 OAN