Newspaper article on asbestos risk in Lower Manhattan

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

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Expert Says Asbestos Slightly Raised Risks for O1 By KIRK JOHNSON assuring news. should not worry them. Ui::/ “It’s Important to keep this risk in fcic: The risk of asbestos-related dls- In a presentation in Manhattan before a panel of the American Col­ perspective,” he said. “It’s not a zero i""edse, including cancer, has risen lege of Preventive Medicine, Dr. increase in risk, but it’s not a magni­ ^“‘Slightly for tens of thousands of peo- Levin said that for the vast majority tude of risk that I think people ought ■2"ple in Lower Manhattan as a result of of people exposed to asbestos — from to be terrorized by or fearful of on a the collapse of the World Trade Cen- being caught in the dust cloud of the day-to-day basis.” ™ ter, a prominent New York physician collapsing towers, for example, or Asbestos, a fibrous mineral that ■“‘^ald yesterday. from cleaning up their apartments was used for decades in the insula­ The risk is higher, he said, for or offices — the risk of ever getting tion of buildings, including parts of ^f"fhbse who worked under the most sick was “very, very small.” the twin towers, was not the only “^‘fidzardous conditions, and much of He also said, after examining test material that people were exposed to the danger could have been reduced results and cleanup records in some after the Sept. 11 attack. The billow­ ‘””Sr eliminated entirely if proper pre- schools in Lower Manhattan, includ­ ing dust cloud contained pulverized ’^^'/yentive action had been taken. ing Stuyvesant High School and Pub­ concrete, fiberglass and other ma­ But the physician. Dr. Stephen M. lic School 150, that students and par­ terials. Acrid smoke from the fires ®^ ’£evln, the medical director at the ents in those schools should have that burned for more than three **^'Mount Sinai School of Medicine’s Irv- little concern about long-term health months at the site irritated the lungs ., ^ing J. Selikoff Center for Occupatlon- effects. and sinuses of thousands. Health and Environmental Medl- In general, he said, people who But it is asbestos, perhaps because ■‘Jfcine, which has treated more pa- regularly walked by the disaster site of the broader public awareness of /" {ients for trade center-related respi­ on their way to or from work in the its risks and the fear its name ratory complaints than perhaps any days and weeks afterward were ex­ evokes, that has dominated the de­ other hospital, also had|‘’some re- posed lower asbestos levels, which bate ^^out the medical and environ- I

Disease Among Residents ofLower Manhattan mental consequences of the attack. towers smashed much of the asbes­ this way,” he said. Scientists have weighed In on the tos in the buildings into tiny fibers, Other public health experts said risks presented by short asbestos which have been shown in animal that Dr. Levin’s presentation re­ fibers and long ones. Some residents tests to be generally less dangerous inforced their assessment that the and workers have said that they be­ than longer fibers. (Short fibers, long-term health consequences of the lieved there were cover-up conspira­ however, have been linked in some attacks were not likely to be severe cies, perpetrated by the city, the studies to a relatively rare cancer for the general population. federal government or building own­ called mesothelioma that affects "My assessment hasn’t changed,” ers, to minimize cleanup costs and about one in a million people in the said Patrick L. Kinney, an associate liabilities. general population. Dr. Levin said.) professor of public health at the Dr. Levin’s presentation conclud­ But the risks from asbestos expo­ Mailman School of Public Health at ed that for most people, the added sure were also compounded for Columbia University. “The main risks were slight, not because asbes­ many people, including rescue and health concern was workers around tos is less deadly than believed, but cleanup workers, who did not wear the Pile,” he said. because most people did not get the respirators sufficient to protect their But Professor Kinney added that level of exposure that, statistically, lungs at ground zero and nearby. there had been health effects that has produced disease. One-time ex­ Many day laborers. Including large were not life-threatening, including posure that results in cancer many numbers of immigrants who spoke new cases of asthma and sinusitis in years later is extremely rare, he little or no English, were hired to people who were exposed to the dust. said, and the scarring of the lungs clean up dust-laden buildings. Dr. “Beyond that. I’m not aware of that characterizes diseases like as­ Levin said, with little or no protec­ any data that has suggested that bestosis generally requires years of tion or instruction. people off-site have suffered any im­ exposure. “It’s a public health outrage that portant health consequences,” he The catastrophic collapse of the they were perjnltted to be exposed said. ..

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