World Trade Center environmental data report, 2001-2002

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

Preface wo years since September 11, 2001, when a terrorist attack leveled the World Trade Center, killing thousands of people, and another hit the Pentagon, killing hundreds more, NEHA is issuing a report to assess what lessons for environmental health can be learned from these disasters—widely regarded as the worst and largest international terrorist events in our nation’s history.

The images of terror are still vivid to most of us but not everyone realized that the nation experienced a new kind of environmental health emergency as well. When the World Trade Center and sections of the Pentagon came crashing down that day, the rubble left for rescuers and cleanup crews was laced with asbestos, heavy metals, diesel fuel, PCBs and dozens of other toxins. New York City was enveloped in a cloud of smoke, soot and toxic ash. Perhaps for the first time, the pivotal role of environmental health in terrorism preparedness was made clear.

"Since we’re all on notice to expect some kind of event, NEHA wants to accumulate a base of knowledge to share with those in all areas of environmental health and public health so that they can be better equipped for the future,” Nelson Fabian, director, says.

The broad outlines of the incidents at the World Trade Center and Pentagon are fairly well known. But the inside story on how environmental health professionals worked behind the scenes to try to make a difference that day and in the months that followed, however, is not well known. These tragic events offer important opportunities to understand how people responded under stress, as well as lasting lessons for emergency and environmental response.

In this age of terrorism, environmental health professionals are now on the frontlines defending public safety.

As is clear to even the least imaginative among us, environmental health professionals are now on the frontlines in defending public safety in this age of terrorism. That is one of the main reasons NEHA took on the task of this report. At one time the worst hazards they confronted were corrosive acids, asbestos and contaminated medical needles. New York’s Environmental Police Unit told The New York Times. (1) Today it’s dirty bombs and more.

People working in the environmental health fields are today being joined by a host of other professionals—EMS and health first responders, public health nurses and doctors, epidemiologist, forensic pathologists, police and fire officials, and others.

In fact, the events of 9/11 brought to the fore many issues that have long been simmering—the need for first responders to be more mindful of health and safety, the need for all emergency personnel to be better coordinated and able to communicate with one another, and, of course, the specter of responding to a biological or chemical terrorist attack.

A month after September 11, testifying before the Senate, Jeffrey P. Koplan, MD, Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, stated that "Prior to the September 11 attack on the

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