World Trade Center environmental data report, 2001-2002

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

By October S*, Newsweek reported, tens of thousands of workers had returned to offices on Wall Street and the Financial District, while some 12,000 of the 20,000 displaced residents were now back in their homes. (4)

This had pulmonary health experts increasingly worried. Dr. Alan Fein, chief of pulmonary and critical-care medicine at North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, said he had treated five patients with what he calls “World Trade Center TCWWW syndrome,” respiratory distress stemming from relatively brief exposures of a day or two near the collapsed buildings. And he expects there will be more. “We

•Y probably will find out a lot more about the health aspects of asbestos from this event, gj unfortunately,” he says.

New York, NY—Oct 4, 2001 Photo: Andrea Booher/FEMA News Photo

Many critics close to the issue argued that EPA health professionals didn’t had enough data to be able to advise the public and first responders on potential hazards, and therefore misled the public with respect to those hazards. Daily News columnist Juan Gonzalez charged that EPA and state and local officials had concealed the dangers of the dust to reassure a jittery public facing a terrorist assault, and to reopen the stock market to avoid deeper damage to the U.S. economy.

"EPA officials and fire-fighting experts were well aware, from previous studies of a handful of spectacular and tragic fires in hotels, commercial buildings and downtown areas, that such blazes are capable of releasing a witch's brew of some of the most toxic substances known—including mercury, benzene, lead, chlorinated hydrocarbons and dioxins. Despite this prior knowledge, federal officials rushed to dismiss or understate potential health dangers to the public and rescue workers at the site during those first few days," wrote Gonzalez in his book "Fallout: The Environmental Consequences of the World Trade Center Collapse" (The New Press). (6)

Whatever it was in the air, alone or in combination with other pollutants, the dust was starting to sicken people in the community. The first shot was probably heard in October or November when the chemically sensitive community began emailing its members about evidence of greater asthma and respiratory ills, and warning people of the need to guard against “enviroiunentally induced injuries and autoimmime diseases” that might be triggered.

“There are no scientific papers detailing the creation, dispersion, and long and short-term effects of a tragedy of this magnitude,” wrote the Coalition, “911 ASH" (Air Safety Hazards). “Asbestos and fiberglass are clearly present, as is soot; fine particles known to increase the incidence and symptoms of asthma, heart disease, and other medical conditions. What are rarely mentioned are the myriad toxins in the smoke itself. Since no one knows exactly what this particular combination of plastics, PVC, office furniture, carpet. Freon, natural gas, jet fuel, metals.

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