DEP Press Advisory on Deer Hunting Cancellation, October 2, 2001

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Air near Ground Zero tn o BY THE NUMBERS o o c The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has set an 3 CD exposure limit for asbestos at .1 fibers per cubic centimeter 3 during any eight-hour period. The following measurements

is rated safe by feds were taken from Sept. 13 to 27;

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% s w o By PAUL H.B. SHIN DAIIY NWS STAFF WRITER al hygienist for the New York i % s s HOT ZONE Committee for Occupational j 15 up to The levels of cancer-causing asbestos and other Safety and Health The commit- j ‘a <a I .14 material still lingering in the air in lower Manhattan ^“dent fests on'^'’"""^ ' ’ fibers per

remain below limits considered a health risk, federal authorities said yesterday. behalf of union members wnrkidg near Ground Zera r chambers”.” "{ cubic centimeter

But with hundreds of tons of suits of its own monitoring last s not the only hazardous material still buried week. Using methods different ’ = ,, absence of toxic rM. V 1 !< T""** . / '1 among the rubble of the World from OSHA, the EPA said asbes- components the SoSs res- }|. S * EAST RIVER Trade Center, experts cautioned tos levels at times spiked to near- pjratory hazards partfcularly to workers at Ground Zero to keep ly twice the permissible limit, people with pre-existing respira- HUDSON RIVER V RECTOR ST J Sb; HNANCIAL wearing respirators. but overall, cancer-causing as- toiy conditions s uch’ " as asthma DISTRICT Air quality samples taken be- bestos found in the air and dust or bronchitis, ’N ;wman said. upto tween Sept. 13-27 at the rubble at Ground Zero and surround- Meanwhile, the EPA conduct­ .041 pile’s so-called hot zone detect- ed airborne asbestos and fiber- ing areas were mostly at low lev- els. ed a whirlwind cl eanup of Wash­ ington Market Park at Cham- WARM ZONE upto i.! fibers per cubic centimeter glass at levels that at one pomt q gear lunes 1’®’^ Greenwich Sts. after a .086 topped . 1 fibers per cubic centi- meter — the safety limit set by _minn<^H ovnr. uro Qc ^t^ prolonged exposure, as- local community group conduct­ asbestos testing and found fibers per cubic centimeter . 'V /sas BATTWVnWHH. the federal Occupational Safety bestos fibers can scar lung tis- ,j,g permis- and Health Administration. sue and eventually cause cancer. sjj,,g hauled But 90%-95% of those fibers Though a few weeks is not con- a^ay all the sar d in the play- Hot Zone Warm Zone Financial were found to be fiberglass and sidered enough to cause scar- ground and ever some top soil (rabble pile) OSHA has District not asbestos. And samples ring, health experts warned that from surround! ig area, said OSHA took 72 collected OSHA has taken taken outside the hot zone have the government limits do not Parks Commis aoner Henry samples in the hot more than about 40 samples. shown levels that OSHA consid- necessarily mean it is risk free. Stem, zone, 90% to 95% I 150 samples i It ceased ers well below permissible lev- “It’s okay legally, but it’s not “It’s more as a precaution that of the fibers found i in the Warm sampling in the els of exposure. necessarily okay medically be- the sand was removed,” Stern were fiberglass rather i Zone through i Financial District The Environmental Protection cause there’s no known safe said. “When something like this Agency, which also is keeping level of exposure to asbestos,” happens, you wa it people to be than asbestos. I Sept. 24. I on Sept. 21. tabs on air quality, released re- said David Newman, an industri- comfortable.”