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law tracked hundreds of mUeS at sea, responsl- i, critta^ said that smaller particles were be- of Health botii say thafno new data has.-Helens, which has been extenslvdy studied,- SenatorCharlrafeS^umeralso_^0®' 1^ hlltty for assessing the envlronmental lm- i tag deUberately overlooked. Some private emerged suggesting they were ,wroi« In In other ways, the dust is perhaps rare altow his daughter /esslcp; o X o o . —k

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ro air in public spaces - sidewalks and the government’s critics was that the gov­ and managers — some of Whom might have opment O GJ ,. -Jstreets. The Oco^iational Safety and Health ernment’s air program was missing much an interest in minimizing the sense of risk, Dr. Levin at Mount Sinai said that he 3. -Administration was in charge at ground thinks the trpth about the disaster has got­ QI of the world that people really Inhabited — or have limited resources to clean what they ?mro. The New York City Departnmnts of - the spaces Inside apartments and office Sealth and Environmental Protection find. ten lost amid what he said has been hyper­ “We had hard facts to support the claims bole from different sides. Sometimes, Dr. same time try not to aQow unsub^anti^^ fear to overcome thq actual facts,” he son. o o buildbigs, which had mostly been left to 'Would take on the questtons of building hidlvldual building owners and managers. we were making; it wasn’t that everyone Levin said, otherwise perfectly healthy peo ­ Mr. Schumer said that, like Dr. PactfiSVs o Safety. Testing and monitoring began al- There was no government database, mi ple can develop problems like asthma with c was saying, ’Don't worry, be happy,’ ” said daughter, Jessica largely disiiitssed theep- 3 Tnost immediately — what would grow in handy list of indoor air monitors to pull Jane M. Kenny, the r^onal administrator even brief exposures to highly irritating or vi mnrrwMifni concerns at the school as issues noxtous particles or chemicals, while others. CD the ensuite months to become a sprawling down from a Web site. at the E.PA.’s office In New York. But that only older per^e would worry aixKt O .database measuring everything from chro­ The Natural Resources Defense Council, people wanted certainty, and science, she exposed to exactly the same thing, remain But the senator said that he and bis with, • mium, PCB’s and lead to asbestos, silica whose headquarters are in Manhattan, said, could not provide that and never has. perfectly fine. Biological diversity in human Iris WeinshaU, the commissioner of tiie New 'land benzene. ’ti - plans to release a study next week conclud- They acknowledge that there was, at populations is much greater than govern- York City Department of Traiaportatioh, '• And so, too, b^an what many health times, an imperfect fit between the issues ment officials suggested. also had to tiilnk about bow, as public qffl- big that the government response, while The blanket reassurances that were giv­ clals, their decision mlght be perceived researchers now say was a huge political heroic on many levels, broke down when it they study — dire health threats — and the en“after tiie disaster don ’t fit our clinical .'blunder. Officials'from the EJ>A. and the came to the environment, especially the frightenii^, if short-term, symptoms of res- interpreted. In this case, tiie deridon, ba^d ‘city made broad pronouncements diat die experience,”he said. on Jessica’s health, bei^me a testament to :alr downtown was safe to breathe, and not issues that affected local residents who piratory distress and irritation that many faced daunting and often unanswerable people experienced. their faith in downtown, one that he brings '.much of a long-term health concern outside At a federal government laboratory hi Decislons, Decisions up In talktaig to residents.' •the immediate , perimeter of the disaster. questions about their health as the cleatuqi and recovery proceeded. North Carolina, a hundred mice are breath­ Some people have' grown impatient with “I figure If you do the rlght thlug for'lgr .Although those conclusions have not been ^disproved by the thousands of tests conduct­ Because no one government agency was big dust from the trade colter collapse. what they descrtbed as a sort of hand­ you’re doing the right tiling for the pub^” Some have it injected deep bito their hings, Mr. Schumer said. - ied since then — more than 10,000 air sam- bl charge of the overall environmental bn- wringing about the risks downtown. Other people denied that they have m^e ^les by the E«PJV the second-guessing pact, tile report says, issues of residential while others get intense one-day exposures “Ufe carries on, you just have to get on and suspicions b^an almost bnmediately taidoor air quality fell between the cracks, in a dust-filled chamber, to mimic the dense wlthlt,”satdRosebiiKI^k,whocleahedup ^among many residents, and later pfaysi- and because of the emphasis on long-term cloud that people were caught in on Sept 11. the layer of trade caiter dust that blew Into talk alx^ risks Is mostly a creatlo^ risks, the Impact on susceptible populations Other re^archers are re-examining the her apartment, and was eager to get -her the news media. 1.^ ;clans, that the tests were Inadequate, or “ I never had any ctedslons to make,” -partial, or that the many things that could was not emphasized enough. health effects of exposure to large dust daughter, Madison, 7, back Into a school in “The residents of Lower Manhattan have particles, which have been linked by physi­ the nelg^rhood. Madison was a second EUi Fordyce, an actress and singer, -who not be known about the air impact were moved back bito her apartmsit on Heritor ■being minimized, resulting In a cloud of to some extent gotten the short end of the cians to the onset of asthma among soine grader at Public School 89, which Is sched- .mistrust arid uncertainty that has still not stick as government agencies focused on people who worked at ground zero tai the uied to reopen later this month. Place In late September. -As for the (fij?t gone away. what they considered to be the bigger plc- days after the disaster. *‘We have to get bat* to normal," Ms. De from the trade cente^that was In tin apto- “I have the concern that tiie Initial re- tore — cleanup of the site itself, restoration The goal is to learn by comparison. Dust Klerk said. mdnt, she said, **My houstikeeper^cam^n assurances were based on the (teslre to of the overall economy, returning some from the trade center is new In the world, a Other people say they feel paralyzed by four or five hours and then my landlord, move ahead as quickly as possible — that the lack of information. Ms. Hennef, who has insurance, bad guys who don’t do ^y reassurances were given because it siq>- • moved back downtown in January with her better but charge $2,500 to come in.” ported public policy,” said Dr. Stephen M ’ husband and their 1-year-old son, Sam, after In some buildings, even when tp op^a -Levin, the medical director at the Mount four months living In a cramped temporary window has become a decision. Armando apartment uptown, said that going through Buria, •who lives in a building on West Street 'Sinai-Irving J. Sellkoff Center for Occupa- iUonal and Environmental Medicine at the >-JI 5^-'’J her family's things has become an exercise — where many tenants are on a rent strJtte over environmental issues and rents — ^d •Mount Sinai School of Medidne, who has In exorcising risk. Iseen dozens of cases of respiratory ailments “There are too many questions’ about that while the air is defioitdy cleaner ilow ■related to the trade center disaster. each object,” she said. “So, I look at and I than it was a few months ago, be sUn ? What ensued, in part, was a war of data stare at and 1 end up throwing it away.” not want to be exposed to it Only whenJte ;and interpretation. The EJA.. in testing for At Stuyvesant Hi^ School, a few blocks wind is from the sea, or New Jersey, wllWe •things like asbestos or other particles In the from the site, questions of indoor air quality open bls window. ';air, used a 24-hour-averagbig system, which have divided children and parents. “I’m a database consultant,” he sata^T •was considered the scientific standard for Dr. Fernando Pacifico, who lives in need to keep everything real time and gauging exposures. But that system was Queens, said he considered taking his 17- based and I don’t have the informatioiLr * ^attacked because it flattened the periodic year-oid daughter out of the school last fall, Ryan Conklin, on the other hand. Is e^- i^ikes that were being recorded as dust and after he treated her for respiratory prob- ing bl the choice he made — a new apajt- smoke drifted around tiie area. lerns tiiat he believes were caused by the ment downtown,.better than ------------------ the one he iStas ------------------------ ■ The E.PA. also focused on small parti- dust and smoke. But that would have rlpped renting farther north in Greenwich Village, tales, based on the scientific literature that apart his family. ‘and less expensive, too. Wd they were the greatest concern. That “My daughter would- be very unhappy . “I’m one of tiie takers,” he said. .Si ' -emphasis failed-to .reflect the larger parti-.. leaving, and I couldn ’t do it,” he said.- “ But But Mr. Conklin, 28, an Investment ba­ 'tales that ^ysldans and scientists say were'". tten I felt guilty for not doing it, so I’m'' ing analyst who Is slngle, is also hedglng'nfa -Causing widespread 'misery- and worry — ' caught in tills quandary, removing her for bets on downtown’s future His new landllgd from sore throats to red eyes—across wide health reasons or keeping her in hecanse - - did offer three- fo five-year leases, but Sr. , । .swaths of Lower Manhattan. * she loves the school” '■ ' Conklin chose the one-year option. Tobmijia The size of the asbestos fibers that the Dr. Pacifico said be was probably court- about downtown and Its envlroamental2& government was measuring also became Bob Stves ter The Ne* York Hoes ing a family fight for even talking’to a ’ sues, he said, could still change. ! --part of the battle. The EJ’.A. scloitlsts said reporter about bls concerns. — which are . “You don’t want to be'trtqiped here for loo that the larger parttdes they were testing Dr. Stephen Gavett, left, and Dr. Dan Costa, working in an KPX labmatory tn North focused lately on dozens of idling dies^ long — you never know, eqieclall^now^ r for — and which woe showing up in rela- Carolina yesterday, examined the effects of dustS^^nom the trade center collapse on mice. truKs that take loads of debris to a barge V da^” he said.** I