Law Department notice on WTC document preservation, Oct 2001

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

Risk Communication in the Aftermath of the World Trade Center Disaster, George D. Thurston, S.cD. and Lung Chi Chen, PhD, American Journal of Industrial Medicine, December 2002:

• The public wante facts upon which they can make individual decisions, not just reassurances. • The government needs to develop peer-reviewed pollution benchmarks of “acceptable” and “unacceptable” exposures applicable to such disaster situations and make them available to the public and media. • Physicians, scientists, and other exposure/health effects experts need to be consulted regarding the appropriateness of government monitoring and health effects assessments on a real-time basis.

Perspective on the Tragedy at the World Trade Center, Joel Shufro, American Journal of Industrial Medicine, December 2002:

• A new regulatory framework regarding potentially toxic exposures is needed, • Government agencies saw their role as reassuring the public or said little, rather than use their position as a bully pulpit to provide the public with information they could use to make informed decisions, • The absence of strong enforcement and leadership on the part of EPA, OSHA, PESH, the New York City Department of Health and New York City Department of Environmental Protection resulted in unnecessary exposure of workers and community residents to toxic substances, • A uniform sampling protocol and centralized collection of all testing results is needed, and • Government agencies appear to have ignored their own precedents [e.g. government intervention in Gramercy Park and Libby, Montana].

Health Effects of World Trade Center Site Workers, Stephen Levin, MD, Robin Herbert, MD, Gwen Skloot, MD, Jamie Szeinuk, MD, Alvin Teirstein, MD, David Fischler, MD, Debra Milek, MD, George Piligian, MD, Elizabeth Wilk-Rivard, MD, and Jacqueline Moline, MD; American Journal of Industrial Medicine, December 2002:

• The importance of an advisory to health care providers ASAP to assist with their evaluation and clinical management of the physical and psychological problems WTC-related patients experienced. • immediate capture of registry (contact) information for volunteers and workers. • Rapid distribution of appropriate respiratory protection and a peer-based structure for encouraging consistent use. • Rapid mobilization of resources for pro-active medical evaluation/treatment-respiratory, musculoskeletal, and psychological-during the weeks following exposure at the disaster site. • Testing of indoor settings, including analysis of settled dust and aggressive air monitoring, to establish a gradient of exposure with distance from Ground Zero to guide recommendations regarding clean-up and reoccupancy. • Communication by public health agencies regarding exposure hazards in lay language, with focus not only on long-term cancer risks, but on short-term health consequences as well. • Greater attention to human health experience, rather than exclusive focus on air monitoring for the usual suspects.

111 Report No. 2003-P-00012

NYC-WTC_000145642