Panel agenda for Air Quality After 9/11 conference, March 2004

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

“In January 2002, the Center for the Biology of Natural Systems (CBNS) of Queens College initiated a free medical screening program for building clean-up workers who did not work at Ground Zero, but who were responsible for cleaning contaminated office and residential buildings adjacent to Ground Zero. The project was conducted in collaboration ith the New York Committee for Occupational Health and Safety (NYCOSH) and a community-based immigrant support organization, the Latin American Workers' Project. Many of the building clean-up workers were day laborers who were hired off street comers on a daily or weekly basis. This was largely a Hispanic population, many of whom did not speak English, did not have health insurance, and did not have training in working with hazardous materials.

“Participants were generally not provided with respirators or any personal protective equipment and were not informed about the contents or any environmental sample test results on the dust and debris that they removed from offices and apartments. Most participants had worked performing indoor building clean-up adjacent to Ground Zero for 6-12 weeks and had stopped such work 4-5 weeks prior to examination.

“Nearly all of the examined building clean-up workers reported current health symptoms that had first appeared or worsened after September 11*. Their symptoms fell into /wo broad categories; irritation of the airways (cough, sore throat, nasal congestion, and chest tightness), and systemic symptoms (headaches, fatigue, dizziness, sleep disturbances). Most participants who complained of symptoms reported no or little improvement of symptoms despite cessation of work and associated dust exposure for 4-8 weeks prior to examination.”

Doctor Markowitz also stated, in a January 28,2002 article in the Daily News, that:

“Between a quarter and a third of the screened workers had ‘significant respiratory affect’ such as coughs, shortness of breath, sore throats, dizziness and headaches from their weeks of cleaning contaminated twin towers dust from lower Manhattan homes and office buildings, he said.

“We tell them that we expect the symptoms will abate over time,” Markowitz said. "But we honestly can't tell people how long those symptoms will last, if they will ever be 100% again or what the long­ term effects of their exposure will be.”

Dr. Robin Herbert, whose testimony before the Congressional Subcommittee on National

Security, Emergency Threats, and International Relations (10/28/03) was mentioned earlier, is

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