DEP Invoice or Financial Record, September 30, 2001

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

4Qun+ing

materials are tested. materials have been tested largely The fireproofing material was at temperatures characteristic ofor­ manufactured by-United States Min­ dinary office fires — involving paper eral Products of Stanhope, N.J., un­ and furniture — and not in such a der the trade name Blaze-Shield, cataclysm, others have their doubts. said James Verhalen, who was then “In retrospect, considering the re­ president of the company and is now cent events at the World Trade Cen­ its chairman. About 65 percent was ter, I wonder if the performance “mmeral wool” — essentially rock characteristics of the replacement that was melted and spun into fibers material were as good,” saidTJr. — bound together by cementlike Arthur Langer, director of the envi­ components. ronmental sciences laboratory^ at But as the steel skeleton of the Brooklyn College. towers began to rise, cancer studies Dr. Langer, whose measuren^nts by Dr. Irving J. Selikoff, then direc­ of asbestos in the air were impoRgint tor of the environmental sciences in Dr. Selikoff s work but who "has laboratory at the Mount Sinai School since received financing fronv,the of Medicine, were signaling the be­ asbestos industry for his own ^re­ ginning of the end for asbestos. search, concedes that the answer Tests that showed asbestos from may never be known. Althougbr,he construction sites was being blown still believes that the decision^ to into the air sealed its fate. In 1969, change the materials was “a good Mr. Tozzoli said, the Port Authority one based on concerns over public decided to s^tcH'to a substitute fire- -health,”. Dr....Langer says the ques- proofing not containing asbestos; the tion of effectiveness against Bfe.still city banned the substance in con­ haunts him. struction in 1971. The project again Whatever their stance on ,^at turned, to United States Mineral, question, others suggest that the/dis- which had developed a new product aster may change the way building — also called Blaze-Shield — with the materials are chosen in the futile. asbestos removed. In addition, more The fire-protecting perform^ce than half of the original, asbestos­ of asbestos compared with fliat' of containing material was later re­ other materials is “a l^itimate placed, said Allen Morrison, a question,” said Dr: Philip J. Landri- spokesman for the Port Authority. gan, who succeeded Dr, Selikoff, at Mr. Verhalen said the new product Mount Sinai. (Dr. Selikoff died^ in essentially contained more mineral 1992.) But Dr. Landrigan, a medical wool and binders, but no asbestos. doctor whose formal title is efiair- “The fire tests at Underwriters man of the department of comm^- beams, where it dried and formed an Laboratories produced the same fire ty and preventive medicine, said he insulating layer intended to keep the resistance as the asbestos-contain­ was satisfied with research showing temperature of the steeli from rising ing products,” Mr. Verhalen said. that the replacements were as gOod ^ve 1,100 degrees Fahrenheit Port Authority had the same results. as those containing asbestos. And he “We tested the hell out of it,” said said Dr. SelikofTs work had suggest­ “Steel loses about 50 percent of its Mr. Tozzoli, who saw the second jet ed that hundreds trf thousands; of strength at that temperature,” and collision from the toll plaza on the people had died of cancer because of can begin to buckle under the load of New Jersey side of the Holland Tun­ exposure to asbestos. Y a building, said Robert Berhinig, a nel. The lack of asbestos fireproof­ “The toll from asbestos has b^n section head in fire-resistive con- ing, he said, “had nothing to do with truly massive,” Dr. Landrigan said. struction at Underwriters Laborato­ the collapse of the building.” “The difference, of course, is that it ries in Northbrook, hl, where such But partly because the substitute occurred one at a time.”

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