VOC sampling locations table for Ground Zero area, Jan 2002

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

September/mid-October (although some personal sampling results were reported that exceeded PEL levels on widely-scattered days from late October into early 2002 for the WTC 5 Building area at Ground Zero). Nor were there any notable blood lead elevations (maximum values < 20 ug/dl) among more than 300 male fire fighters serving at WTC Ground Zero and sampled by CDC in October 2001 (personal communication, P. Edelman). These data tend to suggest that, although it can not be entirely ruled out, it is unlikely that any pregnant or other women of childbearing age working within the WTC Ground Zero perimeter (e.g., among rescue/recovery personnel or assisting with dispensing of food, beverages or other aid to such personnel) would have experienced sufficient lead exposures to be at high risk for lead intoxication effects on them or any fetuses in-utero during or soon after WTC-related lead exposures.

It should also be noted that limited lead results available for analyses of bulk dust samples taken at locations close to the WTC did not appear to show any notably high lead concentrations. The values for bulk dust samples near the WTC noted in the WTC trends report ranged from 120 to 370 pg/g (ppm) - the latter value for a sample taken at Park Place and West Broadway on September 16. These values are consistent with lead concentrations found by ORD in bulk dust near the WTC (median 142 ppm) or those reported by cooperating academic investigators (Lioy et al., 2002) as ranging from 101 to 625 pg/g in bulk dust collected several blocks east of the WTC within days after September 11. They are also not exceptional in comparison with the 500 - 1000 ppm street dust or residential soil lead concentrations often still found in U.S. urban areas in the 1990s, as earlier stated. However, as Lioy noted, indoor exposures to lead-contaminated WTC-derived dust that penetrated indoors could continue to pose risks to individuals re-occupying buildings not cleaned by effective decontamination procedures.

On the basis of results evaluated to date, there is little indication of any substantial health risks being associated with lead exposures of the general population in lower Manhattan areas around the WTC site. However, evaluation of blood lead levels and pertinent medical records for any pregnant women exposed at Ground Zero or in its immediate vicinity during September or early October could provide useful further data by which to assess any such possible health risks associated with WTC-generated lead emissions.

DRAFT-DO NOT QUOTE OR CITE 62 October 2002

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