Newspaper article on air quality concerns, Lower Manhattan

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

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I I professor of environmental medtcipe I . at the New York University SchodJ'Of . Medicine, who is involved in a^stUcfy f

analyzing the constituents' i : and soot. ■

I.. i ' He said winds that tend taswg.ep ( pollution away, during the dayigejiejr- . -' ally ebb at night. He also said t^ia^ pavement and buildings cool ai ntglfi,',. , there are fewer updrafts of wafrri ab- that stir the atmosphere and-^bl^d ,. ■ clear air from higher elevatiopjviCh - : • dirtier air near the streets. ' •/ ■. The result, he said, is that th^faint - t persistentplumeofemissions'-fropi F the attack site ‘‘is. sort of ,,pr^IJ^ p-3 ; Fthe.city; overnight, meanderingj^d i ' (I \ I : IV.that’s what.they’re smeUing.^>*^ b / He,' too, agreed with the auth^^es I I I (

■ ( that there, .was no ’.sign-,of health risk to residents, but,he quiek- . ,..ly added that ..“prudent., avojd^ee , ; remains the best.approach (or,fany ' i f !■ f I I

I resident or worker downtowm’F^p ' r ‘,‘It’s a basic public health/pYibcJ.- ' j I I pal,” Dr. .Thurston said./.‘If youTcah . j .If f avoid-an exposure, you do so."/n1^ ' (' ' • > : Peter M. Iwanowicz, .the difecjior ' of environmental health .-fdrv^e .! i i " American' Lung Association .'of/hlew j - York State, said his organization-bad I y been receiving calls from a 'steady j ! ; String of residents unnerved by the ' i ! ■ I !

' F.'persistentlYacrid-air.- i S [ • .1 “The visceral human reaction^ to this is, this smell,is,not natural^;so ;

I I 'there must be somethings wrong, something toxic,’’ he said.- Bud die . added, smells can be a red heijing; ;■ “Take a'skunk. What it lets loose’liS , ! I h i pretty noxious, but it won’t hurt you. I j Compare that to carbon'monoxide, r I which is odorless and can kilEy^.’’ I , i) Over, all; he s^d,’:the .lung tssocia- I* I I ; tion still tends to ’agree withFpublfc ,7 officials that any threat is limited- to • ’t ' ' "possible^aggravationhof breathing problems b people prone to asthma - , or other respiratory'^niehtsi'.rF Ar ' Other experts say’therevraay,:be' i! F(I

* other air-issues yet'tofemer^’^-■ , ' tered traffic patterns and increased. . !j • - ; ■. congestion from heightened security f- f' at the city’s bridge’s and tunriels,>fbr , h ■. example, have created longs lines;'bf - idling vehicles, which pollute the*air far niore,than cars and trucks-raoy- irig on the highways. Exhaus|:lfrdm .gasoline-fired electricity generators and'diesel vehicles involved ;ln Jthe ? cleanup are another issue shodleibe ,* „ monitored over time, they say.p'9 But raw throats and sore eyes;'oh'e: • environmental expert said, (Should " - generally be likened to the effett^of t « Sitting by a campfire. ■ “If the smoke gets in your eyes, they burn, butit doesn’t mean yotf^e '■ going to gosblind,” said-Donald R. I ' Blake, a professor of chemistry'at,

-I the University of California at Irvine. ; “This is a tough thing that’peopie'in / ' New York are dealing with,” he-said. . IF “But we’re talking .here abdutj-a : I I short-term, temporaryproblem. ■I

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