EPA lead cleanup effort for homes near Ground Zero

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document I.

E.P.A. to Lead Indoor Cleanup Near Collapse Continued From Page Al their air tested. around the site and the smoke from “Rather than doing this in the first the fires that burned for more than couple of months, when It should three months after the attack, j in the intervening months. have been done, people have been Physicians who have treated peo­ Extensive testing of outdoor air in living and working in these spaces,” ple with respiratory complaints say the neighborhoods and business Mr. Iwanowlcz said. that although some downtown office areas downtown has for the most But one public official who became workers and residents have had se­ part shown little cause for any long- a particularly sharp critic of the vere reactions — mostly short-term term health concerns. government’s response, Representa- irritation of their lungs and throats But because relatively few indoor tive Jerrold Nadler of New York, — the numbers are relatively low. spaces have been tested, public said last night that he thought the One physician who has treated health experts and disaster adminls- policy was a huge step forward and many people with World Trade Cen­ trators, not to mention residents, should reassure residents that their ter-related illnesses. Dr. Stephen M. also really do not know what the health and welfare would be taken Levin of the Mount Sinai School of state of indoor air quality is. Some care of. public health experts who had the “it’s good that they’re doing this,” Medicine, said at a conference last plans described to them said a cen- he said. “We’ll watch that they do it month in Manhattan that he believed tral question is whether the new poll- right, but it’s a major step forward.” that few residents should be alarmed cy, coming nearly eight months after A spokeswoman for the E.P.A., about their increased risk of long­ the attack, has already missed its Bonnie Bellow, declined to comment term illness from the disaster. opportunity. last night. ' ' But in dozens of interviews with “Our worry is that this proposal is in general, public health experts residents over the last eight months, coming too late in the game,” said have divided the population of p^ple Questions have continued to resonate Peter Iwanowicz, director of envi- who were potentially exposed to con- about how clean is clean. Among the ronmental health at the American tamlnants from the trade center into issues that will probably emerge un­ Lung Association of New York State, two main groups: those who worked uew cleanup policy is wheth- Mr. Iwanowlcz said he had no reason or volunteered at ground zero and er residents will consider a building to believe that residents should be everyone else. clean if only some of the apartments, alarmed by the change in policy. But Ground zero workers, especially but not all, participate in the E.P.A. the fact is, he said, people have not those who did not wear proper respi- program since dust, as anyone who had enough information to assess ratory protection, are considered the has ever wielded a broom can attest. their own risks, unless they have had most exposed because they were in tends to move around, tracked from the resources and inclination to have the midst of the dust that blew placetoplace.

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