News report on health testing program for WTC workers, 2002

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

Ground Zero workers aren't breathing easier Hundreds of laborers and volunteers cleaned potentially hazardous trade center dust without standard protections By MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN followed, air-fUtering respirators and MALCOLM RITTER ^ere used sporarhcally or not at ASSOCIATED PRESS all by many volunteers, immi- ———————------- - grant laborers and residents who From Latin American day la- cleaned up the dust borers to Southern Baptist volun- More than 400 laborers have re- teers, hundreds of people cleaned ported dizziness, coughing and potentially hazardous dust from other maladies months after stop­ buildings around the World Trade ping work, according to a medical Center site without standard team’s study of their health prob­ safety gear. lems, the most extensive such sur- The cleanup continued for vey to date. Some scientists say months after Sept. 11 as public the workers also face an elevated, agencies issued confusing and if still relatively low, risk of as- often reassuring assessments of bestos-related cancer in coming risks posed by the dust, according decades. to public documents and dozens of Any such illness, they say. would interviews. have been entirely preventable. Asbestos, glass particles and “It’s a public health outrage caustic powder settled unevenly in they were allowed to be exposed scores of apartment and office in this way,” said Dr. Stephen buildings when the twin towers Levin, medical director of the Ir- collapsed and sent dust clouds ving J. Selikoff Center for Occupa,T rolling through lower Manhattan, tional and Environmental Med­ public and private tests show. icine at the Mount Sinai School of But while some public officials Medicine. said it should be assumed the dust Local and federal rules require contained asbestos and required elaborate safety procedures and professional cleaning, others said respirators for workers cleaning it could be safely removed with wet rags, mops and vacuum clean­ ers. In the weeks and months that

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