News article on caustic dust and air monitoring, WTC area

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

Hundreds of firefighters, paramedics and police officers are sick, suffering . what some physicians call "ground zero coughs." Their problems may have come from unprotected exposure the first week of the attack.

But hundreds of other people - workers, students and residents - who fled the area and stayed out for weeks and then came back also are suffering major respiratory problems.

The few Christmas decorations that adorned light poles in lower Manhattan have been removed. But the metal poles still bristle with air monitors and vacuum pumps sucking in air almost around the clock, searching for asbestos fibers, chemicals and traces of heavy, toxic metals.

For the most part, the EPA and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration say they're finding little, if anything, for New Yorkers to worry about

They are talking about contaminants in the air, which is the main pathway for toxic materials to enter the body.

But the EPA pays little or no attention to indoor contamination.

Late Friday, the New York City health department issued a brief statement, with very few details, about both indoor and outdoor testing done by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. This well-respected research arm for the Department of Health and Human Services, found pulverized fiberglass in almost half of the samples it examined. However, New York health officials released no specifics on the levels of toxic material found, and no one could be reached for comment.

Attention is being paid to keeping the contamination on the site. Trucks hauling debris from ground zero pass through an EPA drive-through shower before they reach the streets. City street sweepers and washers drive a seemingly endless circle up and down the streets of lower Manhattan.

But even blocks from the collapse, massive windows on offices and cornices on many apartment buildings are still caked with dust

"We made this analytical effort because we were concerned about the likelihood that the composition of the dust could be potentially harmful to the rescue and cleanup workers at the site and to people living and working in lower Manhattan," said USGS team member Geoffrey Plumlee, a geochemist who determined the pH levels.

"We shared our findings with EPA, FEMA, the federal emergency response coordinator and everyone else we felt was appropriate. We anticipated that the results would have been shared with the people on the ground, those at risk, but it looks like the information never got to those who needed it"

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