New York Post article on WTC remains, Oct 2006

NYC 9/11 Public portal Document

Continued From Page Al I Medical Views^ and other agencies failed to protect And it may also help explain why Mrs. Dunn-Jones, a dynamic civil rights lawyer with the United States Of9/irs Dust them from the toxic dust. Others in­ volve residents who say they were Department of Education, became so sick so quickly. As she was swal­ made sick by dust that settled in Show Big Gaps their homes. Mrs. Dunn-Jones was among those downtown office work­ lowed by a whirling dust plume filled with asbestos, benzene, dioxin and other hazards when the first tower ers caught in the initial fallout. fell, all she could do was cover her By ANTHONY DePALMA Ute question that arises in all nose and mouth as she fled from her these cases is straightforward: Can office one block north of the World In 2004, Kenneth R. Feinberg, spe­ a link between the dust and disease Trade Center. cial master of the federal Sept 11 be proved with scientific certainty? ft was night by the time she got Victim Compensation Fund, award­ The answer is anything but simple. home to Staten Island. “She was in a ed >2.8 million to the family of a “Certainty is a word we always state of shock,’’ her husband, Joseph downtow office worker who died dance around,” said Joseph Grazia­ Jones, recalled. Her clothes were from a rare lung disease five months no, associate dean for research al the still dusty, but he didn’t pay much at- after fleeing from the dust cloud re­ Mailman School of Public Health at tention. “I was Just so happy to see leased when the twin towers feU. Columbia University. For him, That de^mtm made the worker, Fel­ ter,” he said. icia Dunn-Jones, a 42-year-old law­ searching for the cause of disease is For the next few months, life re­ yer, the first official fatality of the like developing film. “At first you see turned to normal, until Mrs. Dunn- dust and one of only two deaths to be a taint image of what the real picture Jones developed a cough. In January formally linked to the toxic air at Is," Dr. Graziano said, “and then, 2002, the cough grew worse. On Feb. ground zero. over time, you see it with much more 10, she suddenly stopped breathing The New York City medical exam- clarity. In these relatively early and died. , iner’s office, however, has refused to times, the image is still faint.” Mr. Jernes, M, an assistant man­ pit her (Hl Its official list of 9/11 vic­ It can take decades to approach ager at a Brooklyn pharmacy, was tims, saying that by Its standards any degree of certainty. For in­ there was insufficient medical evl- stance, only after yean at observa- dence to link her death to the dust. tlon did doctors agree that there was Mrt. Dunn-Jones’.'s case shows how a strong link between asbestos and difficult it can be to prove a causal diseases like asbestosis and meso­ connection with any scientific cer­ thelioma. tainty— and how even government In legal cases, “a reasonable de­ agencies can disagree. With thou- gree of medical certainty" Is consid­ eands at people now seeking compen­ ered the gold standard in making a sation and treatment for dust ex- causal connection. Last week, a fed­ posure, the debate about the rela­ eral Judge cleared the way tor thou­ tionship between the toxic particles sands of workers’ lawsuits to go to and disease will be a central issue in trial. When the cases are heard, any the flood of Sept 11-related lawsuits. proof that does not meet that teg^ Health experts are starting to docu­ standard is likely to be challenged. ment the connections, but any Arm But outside the courtroom, scien­ conclualon is still years away. tists say, even a less rigorous link Mast of the suits involve workers could be sufficient to warrant ex­ who spent weeks and months on the panding the range of illnesses cov­ pile at ground zero and say the city ered by treatment programs, and to serve as the basis for issuing cau- Continued on Pof^ Bd tlona to people in high-risk groups. When die health effects^rejoojaew, ' Of'lhe''’WidiSce'"ls too vague for a strong link, lesser indicators like the concurrence of different studies have to be relied on. For example, nearly every ground zero study shows that workers and residents exposed to the dust in the A hours after the collapse have suf­ fered toe worst health problems. The Gonsistency in that data has helped doctors monitor and treat people sinceSept.il.

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