NYC-WTC_000152910

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

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9/11 Dust Seen as Less Toxic Than Feared By ANDY NEWMAN

T <http.7/graphics7.nytimes.com/images/dropcap/t.gif> he soot in the air of Lower Manhattan in the first few days after the Sept. 11 attack was less likely to cause cancer and other long-term health problems than many had feared, according to a report released yesterday. The report, by a team of environmental scientists studying the pollution caused by the burning and collapse of the World Trade Center towers, found that dust particles collected at 14 sites from Sept. 12 through 17, 2001, were primarily larger than' those much more dangerous particles that are more likely to lodge deeply in the lungs and stay there. The larger particles are more easily expelled. "That means," said Paul Lioy, one of the authors of the study, "in terms of potential lifetime exposures, we're probably going to be very lucky in that these may not be exposures of significant health risk." The degree of environmental risk caused by the destruction of the towers has been the subject of clamorous debate since before the dust even settled. Many rescue workers and nearby residents have complained of respiratory problems and have accused the authorities of withholding information. The federal Environmental Protection Agency took the unusual step this year of promising to clean up and test apartments in the entire area south of Canal Street. The study is to be published in the February issue of Environmental Science & Technology, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Chemical Society, which is a scientific and not an industry-sponsored group. The report is available on the society's Web site at www.acs.org. Dr. Lioy, the associate director of the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, which is affiliated with Rutgers University, cautioned that the study did not determine how much of various particles people may have inhaled near ground zero. But Dr. Lioy said it was a positive sign that the finer particles - those smaller than 2.5 millionths of a meter - appeared to have made up less than 4

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