Q&A and FAQ regarding WTC response, Oct 2001

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

DOH along with several other government agencies is performing a number of tasks: monitoring air quality, assessing and mitigating risks caused by asbestos containing material. DEP is issuing and enforcing re-occupancy guidelines.

• When will the registry be established? Will it study the health effects from environmental exposures? Will it look at all of the chemicals released like dioxin and benzene?

• A Mt. Sinai physician testified that he has seen patients 7 blocks from WTC with significant health effects (upper respiratory stress, asthma, etc.). What does that mean for other nearby residents downwind from the site?

• Do residents need to see a respiratory specialist for air exposure concerns?

B. Children

• Is it safe for children to breathe the air? Since they have smaller lungs and their bodies are still developing, do the standards for determining the health effects of toxins in the air take into account children’s physical development?

• Different pediatricians are giving different assessments of the impact on children? What is DOH’s position?

• in the indoor air testing why did we sample the air at adult breathing levels and not lower levels where young children breathe? (The Mt. Sinai doctor’s testimony indicated that we should be more concerned about children’s exposures and that we aren’t doing enough)

C. Asbestos

• The indoor study found the presence of asbestos in the dust. Doesn’t it take only one fiber of asbestos lodged in a lung to cause disease, and if so aren’t we all at increased risk for disease? Asbestos exposure becomes a health concern when high concentrations of asbestos fibers are inhaled over a long period. Illness is very unlikely to result from a single, high-level exposure, or from a short period of exposure to lower levels.

• Don’t we risk inhaling asbestos even if we wet clean and

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