New York Times article on rescuer health ailments, Oct 2001

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

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Half of screened rescuers suffer ailments By HHDl ElfiUB ONiy NEWS SWT WRIim Hmhere are nights since Sept 11, 2001, says Peg I Nolan, that her husband wakes up from a deep I sleep, jumps off the side of the bed and gasps for breath. In the 23 years they have been mar­ I ried, she has never heard him snore so loudly. And then there are the unexplained fits of sneezing, the sinus congestion and a cough thht never seems to go away. Steve Nolan, 54, a seasoned crane operator who, like so acceptable. 1 know there are peo- many, was moved to mend ni^ pie concerned and worried and day at Ground Zero doing about it, but that’s Just the reali- rescue and cleanup work, tries ty.” not to worry about his long-term But more than a year later, health. doctors and scientists are still “We’ll never know what was puzzling over the possible in that stuff down there,” said health consequences of expo- Nolan, a Willey Stream, LJ., fa- sure to the large concentranon ther of three who came home of dust, some of iriiich con- caked in white dust and debris tained toxins such as benzene each night and shed his clothes from burning jet fuel, asbestos at the front door. “Like most of and dioxiiL us udio were In the short down there, * ' term, the trage- you think sick­ DATLY^NEWS has spawned ness and can­ aliments, which cer ain’t gonna happen to me. SPECIALIEPORT together have been dubbed You are so busy doing the work, you don’t Center Cough. World Trade St?'- think of the consequences, un- At a meeting in September at fortunately.” the New York Acadeiny of Medr- aBANwnrsDiuurNEws Fifteen months after the twin dne. Dr Kerry Kelly, the Fire De­ BREATH TEST towers attack, health problems partmenf8 chief inedical officez; Steve Nolan uses a device at Mount Sinai MecBcd Center to test lung function. remain an intractable issue: described WTC Cough as re- He was a crane operator at Ground Zero mid stDI suffers from coighb^ and sbnis proiileins. More than half of the 2,500 res­ duced lung capacity and ex­ cue workers and volunteers treme sensitirity of the airways cause of the ailtnent, and some air samples collected last year eyes, nose and throat, irritating Mount Sinai Medical Center doc­ to any and an particles, bacteria of them are likely to be penna- “From niy experience as a toxi- the mucus membranes,” Oren tors have screened to date have and viruses that a person in- nently disabled, say FDNY offi- cologist, people should have explained. “When inhaled in persistent upper respiratory in­ hales. The cough — whidi can cials, who are screenir^ their healed by now and would no largequantities.thebody’snatu- flammation and at least one in be triggered by irritants, such as personnel in a separate study longer have symptoms.” t»l defense mechanians Woukfi four people has abnormal secondhand smoke, car ex- funded by the Certters for Dis- Part of the explanation, Chen tnake a person cough. Perhaps' breathing consistent with lower haust, cold air and cleaning ease Control and Prevention. says, may lie in the composition 1*®“ respiratory disease. That is agents —is dry and nonproduc- “We are just puzzled why of the enormous amount of dust «fo<*d in ^ initial daysxrf :^: more than triple what is found tiveandcanleaveapetsongasp- these symptoms persist," said that feU when the towers col- in the general populafiott ingforair. Dr. Lung Chi Chen of the New lapsed. The hospital’s federally fund­ Between 300 and 500 firefight- York University School of Medi- “The dust we found was large- , ed study also found about 20% ers who worked at Ground Zero dne. Chen’s team is continuing sized particles, highly alkaline have gastrointestinal add reflux remain on the disabled list be- to analyze the dust, debris and and caustic in nature to the exposed— n-, neonle who ivenr at or n^ Ground Zero. — or heartbum — most likely from swallowing large amounts But they can’t know for sure. of concrete dust, and more than “I don’t think there triUWS 50% sufrer from posttraumatic huge wave of cancers from tbl stress syndrome. erqxwure. But I can’t say ti^ “These rates of abnormality will be no cancer,” said Lerin, j are striking a year and three ■Trhere are those; wh<^ । months after the event,” says worry about — the pojpIeaRhi Mount Sinai stucN leader and oc­ were on The Pile long hoUrs^

I cupational healtfa specialist Dr. St^hen Lerin. “People are com­ ing to us with shortness of 7. their faces in the d^ris day after day, like the ironworkers. And I worry about the day labor­ i breadx* couj^hii^ asthma. This is as uz^gent public health matter.* ers, many of whom were immi­ grants we can’t find, who did the cleanup in enclosed apartments and offices with no protection.’ Cafled safe, at first 8a In the days immediately fol­ I?.'.! Lerin added: “The cancers we are worried about down the lowing tire attack, officials tiy- ing to calm a traumatized and economically devastated city put out a different message. Un­ derscoring federal Environmen­ -4 - 'JiJ H ■ * road can’t be detected now. That

tal Protection Agency chief Christie Whitman’s assurances. then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani firm- iSjJ ______ 35,000 workers and volunteers sum wxrTswnr news present at Ground g ly told New Yorkers on Sept 28, Zero. Hie money nms out in S 2001: “The air quality is safe and ON THE CASE De Stephen Levin looks over data fnmi ecreralng program for WTC wortere. july.

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