NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document
Staff, NCEA-W (8623D), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC 20460;
* elephone: 202-564-3261; facsimile: 202- 565-0050. Comments should be in writing. Please
submit one unbound original with pages numbered consecutively, and three copies of the
.omments. For attachments, provide an index, number pages consecutively with the comments,
md submit an unbound original and three copies. Electronic comments may be emailed to:
[email protected].
Please note that all technical comments received in response to this notice will be placed in
J public record. For that reason, commentors should not submit personal information (such as
medical data or home address). Confidential Business Information, or information protected by
.copyright. Due to limited resources, acknowledgments will not be sent.
-OR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information on the public comment period,
jontact the Technical Information Staff of the National Center for Environmental Assessment-
iVashington by telephone: 202-564-3261; facsimile: 202-565-0050; email:
rceadc.c LgW.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Immediately following the September 11, 2001, terrorist
-ttack on New York City's World Trade Center, many federal agencies, including the EPA, were
jailed upon to focus their technical and scientific expertise on the national emergency issues.
SPA, other federal agencies. New York City, and New York State public health and
environmental authorities focused on numerous air monitoring activities to better understand the
ingoing human health impact of the disaster. Many EPA offices and programs quickly became
nvolved with these activities, providing scientific, engineering, public health, and management
expertise to help cope with the aftereffects of the collapse of the World Trade Center.
As part of these activities, a human health evaluation of exposure to air
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jollutants resulting from the World Trade Center disaster was initiated. The primary purpose and
cope of this draft report were to evaluate the environmental levels of various air pollutants to
which the public could potentially be exposed as a result of the collapse of the towers. The draft
eport evaluates the measured outdoor levels of various air pollutants to which the public
potentially had been exposed. These data were evaluated in terms of available health benchmark
concentrations and typical background concentrations for New York City or other urban areas.
1 he draft evaluation concludes that, with the exception of those exposed immediately following
he collapse and perhaps during the next few days, people in the surrounding community are not
ikely to suffer from serious long- or short-term health effects.
While the primary focus of EPA's draft evaluation is on outdoor levels of various air
pollutants to which the public could potentially be exposed as a result of the collapse of the
owers, some information on indoor and occupational exposures is summarized in EPA's draft
eport. The incursion of dust and other contaminants into residences and buildings is being
iddressed via a number of other studies initiated in conjunction with the plans by EPA and its
federal, state, and city partners to clean up residences impacted by the collapse of the World
fade Center.
The draft report also includes a discussion of rodent respiratory toxicology studies,
onducted by EPA scientists, that exposed mice to fallen dust samples collected at or near Ground
NYC-WTC_000161605
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