• Aftermath

    20 Aug 2008 /  Uncategorized

    WAYS TO HELP:

    9/11 First Responders Need Your Help

    More workers will die from Ground Zero Illness than from the attacks!

    What has happened to the rescue workers from 9/11?

    Over several months, approximately 40,000 rescue workers helped at Ground Zero, and all were exposed to caustic dust and toxic pollutants. The workers included firefighters, police officers as well as a wide variety of construction, utility and public sector workers.

    The largest health study ever conducted of rescue and recovery workers was done by Mount Sinai School of Medicine. They examined 9,442 responders between July 2002 and April 2004. Of those examined, 69% reported new or worsened respiratory symptoms since working at ground zero. Among the workers that had not had any health issues before 9/11, 61% had developed respiratory symptoms. Twenty-eight percent had abnormal spirometry (meaning the measuring of breath); 21% were low in forced vital capacity (FVC) (maximum volume of air that a person can exhale); and obstruction was present in 5%. Among nonsmokers, 27% had abnormal spirometry compared with 13% in the general U.S. population. Prevalence of low FVC among nonsmokers was 5 times greater than in the U.S. population (20% vs. 4%). Respiratory symptoms and spirometry abnormalities were significantly associated with early arrival at the site.

    The frequency of sarcoidosis or Bensnier-Boeck disease, an immune system disorder characterized by non-caseating granulomas (small inflammatory nodules), was increased among FDNY rescue workers by 47%, compared to firefighters 15 years before the 9/11.

    WTC responders had exposure-related increases in respiratory symptoms and pulmonary function tests abnormalities that persisted up to 2.5 years after the attacks. Long term medical monitoring is required to track persistence of these abnormalities and identify late effects, including possible malignancies.

    What Were the Exposures?
    The thousands of tons of toxic debris resulting from the collapse of the Twin Towers consisted of more than 2,500 contaminants, more specifically: 50% non-fibrous material and construction debris; 40% glass and other fibers; 9.2% cellulose; and 0.8% asbestos, lead, and mercury. There were also unprecedented levels of dioxin and PAHs from the fires which burned for three months.

    So what about health care from the government?
    Rescue workers that are sick or injured as a result of working at Ground Zero are finding it much harder to receive compensation than the average injured worker.

    The Bush Administration has continuously promised more money to help ease the burden, but have consistently taken the money out of the budget. In 2006 $125 million was taken back.

    International Association of Fire Fighters General President Harold Schaitberger issued a statement on President Bush’s proposed Fiscal Year 2009 budget, “President Bush says he wants to protect Americans, but his budget proposal proves his words are meaningless. Once again, he has proposed eliminating or drastically reducing funding” http://www.iaff.org/08News/020508Bush.htm

    These selfless individuals rose up in the time of need to help others. Now their health, jobs and lives are being compromised because of their bravery. If the government isn’t going to provide compensation for these people for basic health care then it is necessary that we rise up and come to their aid.

    Thanks to Stephanie Gaskell, New York Daily News Staff writer, we read of the above’s shocking news, which New York City and the US governments seemingly refuse to let sink into their thick heads and even thicker skin. Thousands of first responders are in dire health conditions, and consequently dire financial and familial conditions, due to illnesses contracted while working at Ground Zero following 9/11.

    In this case Robert Grossman, a police office who worked at Ground Zero following 9/11, died of cancer on Friday, October 9. Family members and First Responder activists rightly blame their deaths on the incredible array of poisons released into the air after the explosions and subsequent pyroclastic collapse of the Twin Trade Towers and subsequently Tower Seven.

    Stephen Grossman, whose son Robert died of cancer at the age of 44, commented that “Everybody is denying that this stuff is connected to 9/11.” And right he is. Robert Grossman was a police officer in Harlem who worked at Ground Zero for several weeks after 9/11. His father added, “He never once said he was sorry he went down there. None of them walked away even though they all knew it was really dangerous.”

    The very day after Grossman passed, Firefighter Richard Mannetta, 44, died of cancer. The preceding Wednesday, 37-year old Police Office Cory Diaz died of cancer. Stephen Grossman pointed out, “Unfortunately, it’s just going to happen more and more.” He added that there are still many more first responders, in fact, thousands of them, who are sick.

    Adding a tone of righteous irony, he said “This country just says, ‘That’s fine. We’ll just wait another 15 to 20 years and you’ll all be dead and we’ll all be sorry. This country is [or should be] better than that.’”

    In fact, in an article I’d written, 9/11’s second round of slaughter, I reviewed a documentary film Dust to Dust, by Heidi Dehncke-Fisher, that detailed with incredible accuracy, just what these first responders were up against.

    Three 9/11 heroes dead from cancer in five days
    By Jerry Mazza

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