Law Department notice on WTC document preservation, Oct 2001

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

needfor more information regarding the potential risks from exposure to the dust and debris that continues to be emittedfrom the WTC site. Related to this topic, 35% ofthe respondents reported that they needed more information regarding cleaning.

The report noted that only 40 percent of the residents said they cleaned their homes according to the recommended methods of wet moping hard surfaces and using HEPA vacuums on carpeting. The report noted two limitations on its results. First, the survey only included three selected neighborhoods in Lower Manhattan and did not include residents who had not re-occupied their apartments at the time of the survey. Second, the report noted that normally respiratory symptoms (e.g., symptoms related to allergies) increase during the time of year the survey was conducted.

Hearings held by a Congressional Subcommittee, the EPA Superfund Ombudsman, New York City Council, and New York State Assembly included testimony indicating that the public desired more information regarding air quality. Further, several reports detailing lessons learned from the WTC response noted problems with government communications regarding air quality. These reports and their conclusions are discussed in Chapter 7.

Telephone Poll Indicated Public Did Not Believe Air Was Safe A telephone poll*’ conducted in March 2002, after many news articles were published questioning the air quality information that the government had issued, found that 70 percent of those surveyed did not believe environmental protection and other government agencies when they said the air quality around the WTC site was safe. The poll surveyed 511 randomly dialed residences from the five boroughs of New York City. We contacted one of the principals of the polling organization, who told us the answers to the lone question asked about air quality were consistent among all groups polled.

Unprotected Workers Cleaned Contaminated Offices and Residences Preliminary results of an independent study*'* of the health of day laborers who cleaned indoor spaces near Ground Zero noted that these workers were generally not provided with respirators or any personal protective equipment. Further, the workers were not informed about the contents of the dust they removed from offices and apartments, nor were they informed of any environmental test results

13 Blum and Weprin Associates, New York Daily News, March 2002, margin of error plus or minus 4.5 percent. 14 “Assessing the Health of Immigrant Workers Near Ground Zero; Preliminary Results of the World Trade Center Day Laborer Medical Monitoring Project”; Ekaterina Malievskaya, M.D., Nora Rosenberg, Steven Markowitz, M.D.; American Journal of Industrial Medicine; December 2002.

42 Report No. 2003-P-00012

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