September 11: Overview of Federal Disaster Assistance to the New York City Area (U.S. General Accounting Office, Report to Congressional Requesters, October 2003)
Data Sanpshot: Understanding the Health Impact of 9/11:  World Trade Center Registry (NYCDOHMN, October 2003, Volume 1, No. 1)
Effects of Wildfire Smoke Vary, Experts Say ... The inhalation of tiny smoke particles from wildfires, while unpleasant, is unlikely to cause long-term damage to healthy people unless it occurs over a prolonged period, doctors and environmental health specialists said. But the experts also warned that young children, the elderly and anyone with chronic pulmonary or cardiovascular conditions could be at risk for complications, and those people were particularly advised to stay indoors and run their air-conditioners while the fires in Southern California continued to rage... In forest fires, smoke particles are mainly made up of organic material from burning vegetation. That distinguishes them from the kinds of particles found in urban fires, like those associated with the attack on the World Trade Center two years ago. "When buildings burn down, you can get some nasty things," Dr. Hughson said. "An awful lot of the dust that came down with the towers was construction materials, a lot of concrete dust. That's very, very irritating, more toxic than this stuff from a forest fire." (NYTimes, by David Tuller, October 30, 2003)

Breathtaking Cynicism ... Members of Congress have just heard testimony that most of those who came in the aftermath of 9/11 to look for survivors at the World Trade Center site, or to help with the cleanup, are suffering all sorts of health problems. (The Nation, 10/30/2003)
Senate Approves Plan Requiring EPA To Monitor Air Quality During Disasters ... The Senate has approved legislation that would require EPA to provide each of its regional offices a mobile air pollution monitor network to track potential public health risks in the event of a disaster, such as the current California wildfires and the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. ... Boxer in offering the plan appeared to be making a similar argument as Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) in her bid to have EPA perform environmental monitoring and testing of the World Trade Center site. Clinton was the sole co-sponsor of the Boxer amendment. Calls to Boxer and Clinton's offices were not returned. "We learned so much from September 11th and the problems we have with air quality in disaster areas," Boxer said in a written statement. Boxer prior to the vote said on the Senate floor that there are several pollutants -- including benzene, toluene and asbestos -- which are emitted by these wildfires and are not tested on a daily basis. "Today in San Diego, schools are closed because the air quality is too poor for children to breathe as a result of the wildfires," Boxer said in her Oct. 29 release. Clinton's push for air monitoring at the World Trade Center site was part of a Democratic standoff with the White House over the president's nomination of Michael Leavitt to be EPA administrator. Clinton lifted a hold on the Leavitt nomination after the administration agreed to conduct additional testing in buildings adjacent to Ground Zero to make sure they are no longer contaminated, and to create a task force -- to be led by EPA -- to investigate existing indoor air data and minimize health risks associated with the 9/11 attacks. Congress has restricted EPA's regulatory authority on indoor air pollutants to research, with critics of the agency cautioning that an aggressive push by EPA to address indoor pollutants may open up a major new area of environmental controls. (Inside Washington Publishers, October 30, 2003)

Mayor fears costs of WTC pension bill ... Mayor Bloomberg is urging Gov. Pataki to reject legislation that could boost retirement payouts for thousands of emergency workers who responded to the World Trade Center attacks, the Daily News has learned. In an unusually forceful letter, obtained by The News, Bloomberg suggested the measure could cost the city and state up to $260 million a year. The legislation would create a presumption that myriad injuries and illnesses suffered by firefighters, police officers and other workers who helped in the Sept. 11, 2001, response and recovery are job-related. That would entitle the workers to disability pensions, which are higher than regular pensions. (NYDaily News, October 30, 2003)
Doctors: Most 9 - 11 Workers Still Ailing ... NEW YORK (AP) -- Most ground zero workers still suffer from health problems two years after Sept. 11 and many do not have health insurance or job security, doctors told a congressional panel Tuesday. Several of the workers testified at a Manhattan hospital before the committee, saying they had trouble breathing, suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and no longer had the strength to do their old jobs.``I can't tell you how hard it is living like this,'' said David Rapp, a construction worker who spent five months at the World Trade Center site and now always carries an oxygen tank and uses three inhalers. ``The fear of not being able to take my next breath is unbearable.'' ... Robin Herbert and Stephen Levin, the co-directors of a federal screening program at Mount Sinai Medical Center for ground zero workers, said they had examined 8,000 workers, 75 percent of whom had persistent respiratory problems. Forty percent of the workers suffer from mental health problems after the 2001 terror attack, the doctors said, but 40 percent also do not have health insurance and one-third are unemployed.... Herbert and Levin, who said the workers are at risk for developing cancer in the next decade, sought funding to screen more than 10,000 workers a year for the next 20 years. (NYTimes, October 29, 2003)

Ground zero workers in poor health: Many suffer breathing problems, stress disorder, doctors say ... One of the America's top air-quality scientists test the air around Ground Zero and tells NBC's Lisa Myers and the NBC Investigative Team he was shocked to find alarming levels of sulfuric acid and fine particles more than three weeks after the attack. (MSNBC, October 29, 2003)
Ground Zero Illnesses Linger: Rescuers suffering from fumes, debris ... Up to half of the workers who toiled at Ground Zero are suffering long-term health problems caused by inhaling fumes and dust from debris, according to testimony delivered at a congressional hearing in Manhattan yesterday. Firefighters' representatives reported their ranks of disabled from the Sept. 11, 2001, disaster have reached 2,400, and other workers said they never received respirators or other protective gear at Ground Zero during the first two weeks. The panel also heard that many who worked at the site have been unable to collect workers' compensation claims. The hearing was convened at the request of Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan), who opened the session by saying that "40 percent of the Ground Zero workers lack health insurance. How in the world are other first responders going to respond to other disasters if they see that Sept. 11 responders are not given health care?"... Maloney expressed surprise: "The State of New York got $175 million from Congress to pay out workers' compensation ... but you can't get it?" Mount Sinai's Dr. Stephen Levin said most of his Ground Zero patients have been denied workers' compensation coverage. He called the system "dysfunctional.." (NY Newsday, October 29, 2003)
Ground Zero workers still suffering ... One-third of Ground Zero workers are suffering serious health problems, and many face life-long illnesses, doctors told a congressional panel yesterday. But much of the money earmarked to help the firefighters, cops, construction workers and others sickened by the toxic plume at the World Trade Center site is stuck in limbo. The funds have been authorized by the federal government but not disbursed. "Surely those who responded so selflessly to the disaster deserve better," said Dr. Robin Herbert, co-director of a health screening program at Mount Sinai Medical Center for 7,000 Ground Zero workers. Testifying before the House Committee on Government Reform at the upper East Side hospital, Herbert said 40% of those enrolled in Mount Sinai's program have no health insurance, and a third are unemployed. (NYDaily News, by Paul H.B. Shin, October 29, 2003)
After Long Delay, Senate Confirms Utah Governor as Head of E.P.A.... The confirmation of Mr. Leavitt, a three-term governor with strong ties to many senators, headed for a quick ending this week after it became clear that the Republicans had enough votes to override the six Senate Democrats who had placed holds on his confirmation. Minutes before a critical vote on Monday night, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York said she had reached an accord with the White House to re-examine the air quality of Lower Manhattan and would drop her opposition. (NYTimes, by Jennifer 8 Lee, October 29, 2003)
The Lay of the Landslide: A look behind the Senate's thumbs-up on Leavitt ... Though Connaughton didn't admit to a cover-up of evidence about poor air quality at Ground Zero after Sept. 11, 2001, as the senators had pushed for, he did vow to beef up both the investigation into the exposures and risks at the site and the health-care options for those potentially affected.... Lieberman and Clinton deserve congratulations for extracting a commitment from Connaughton, but they seem to have glossed over the broader reason that many Democrats had for blocking the Leavitt nomination: drawing attention to the Bush administration's environmental record at large, which has consequences that reach well beyond the boundaries of Ground Zero.(Grist Magazine, by Amanda Griscom, 29 Oct 2003)

Nadler Statement on EPA's Failed Response to 9/11 ... Seeks Answers from Agency at House Committee Hearing in New York City (News Release, October 28, 2003)

Congress Opens Hearings On Health Effects Of WTC Attack ... A Congressional hearing on the long-term health effects of the World Trade Center attack got underway Tuesday in Manhattan. ... The bottom line, according to panelists, is the federal government needs to provide more money for long-term health care and monitoring. ... The city's World Trade Center health registry is trying to track attack-related illnesses, but it was never meant to provide any treatment. "It's not in any way integrated with our program, so people identified by the registry as having symptoms are being referred for further evaluation and care," Levin said. Lawmakers at the hearing said they will introduce legislation to try and ensure all workers are screened and treated. (NY1, by Marjie Mohtashemi , October 28, 2003)

Doc's WTC note: Don't hurry back ... The day after the World Trade Center collapse, a top federal scientist warned in a strongly worded memo against the quick reoccupation of buildings in lower Manhattan because of possible dangers from asbestos and other toxic materials. "We feel that the issues surrounding a decision to enter orreenter previously occupied premises is enormously complex," wrote Dr. Ed Kilbourne, an associate administrator at thefederal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), in response to aWhite House request for a health advisory. "A number of environmental hazards, especially asbestos- contaminated dust, may be present in the area," Kilbourne said in his two-page report to Dr. Kevin Yeskey, then the director of bioterrorism preparedness and response at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. (NY Daily News, by Juan Gonzalez, October 28, 2003)
Ground Zero Workers Testify About Poor Health (Fox News/AP, October 28, 2003)
Doctors: Most ground zero workers still in poor health (The Stamford Advacate/AP, October 28, 2003)
Sociologists study disasters ... At a congressional hearing Monday, leading sociologists offered policymakers clear direction: Before a disaster, give credible, equitable warnings. After a disaster, encourage response that's woven into each community's social fabric.... The government sometimes "tells us things they're not sure are true," said Clarke, and the results can be significantly damaging for people already hurting. The EPA's inaccuracies worsened the World Trade Center disaster in two ways. First, health problems were worse for people who believed it was safe to return to contaminated homes, schools and workplaces. Second, public trust in the EPA was shattered; the agency increasingly appeared both unable and unwilling to test for toxins. (Reporting Distaster Response, by Susan Kim, October 28, 2003)
W.T.C. health survey is poorly run, some say ... The city's World Trade Center Health Registry has not asked enough questions of enough people, Downtowners criticized at an environmental forum last week. At the event, sponsored by New York University School of Medicine and held in the landmark Woolworth Building, scientists presented 9/11-related research to an overflow crowd of more than 120 people. Some said that the forum failed to provide the practical health information they were seeking. The project director for the health registry spoke last and received the brunt of participants" frustration during the question-and-answer session that followed. "The registry fails, and it fails miserably," said Scott Shields, who was among the first rescue workers to respond to the disaster. (DownTown Express, By Elizabeth O'Brien, Oct 28 - Nov 03, 2003)

Nadler Statement on EPA's Failed Response to 9/11 (October 28, 2003)
Statement of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton on Governor Leavitt Nomination ... "Over the last several weeks my office and I have been in negotiations with the White house over the serious matters concerning the clean up around Ground Zero and the continuing threat of contamination in residences and workplaces in Lower Manhattan. Today we have reached an agreement and I have received a commitment to action from the White House to address these indoor air quality concerns. This is not everything that I would have wished for and it is not exactly what the Inspector General has recommended, but I will continue to work with the White House and the EPA to make sure that we go wherever the evidence leads us and that we have independent outside validation of whatever it is the EPA does from now on. But we have reached agreement with the White House for additional testing to verify that residences that have been cleaned have not been recontaminated. And in addition, the White House has committed to forming an expert panel consisting of both government experts and outside experts to reevaluate a range of issues raised by the Inspector General's Report. (October 27, 2003)

Democrats End Effort to Block Bush's Choice to Lead E.P.A. ... Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and other Democratic senators on Monday withdrew their holds on President Bush's choice to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, Gov. Michael O. Leavitt of Utah, clearing the way for Mr. Leavitt's confirmation in a vote by the full Senate on Tuesday. Mrs. Clinton yielded after the White House agreed to re-examine the environmental effects of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center. The agreement ended a standoff over Mr. Leavitt's nomination that had lasted more than 50 days. (NYTimes, by Jeffer Lee, October 27, 2003)
Democrats Abandon Filibuster of Leavitt ... WASHINGTON, Satisfied that the Bush administration will address concerns over air quality in New York City following the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, Sen. Hillary Clinton has removed her objections to the nomination of Mike Leavitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency. The withdrawal has ended the threat of a filibuster of the Utah governor's confirmation. Senators are now expected to approve his move to the EPA in a Tuesday morning vote. (Fox News, October 27, 2003)
Unions rip WTC health registry ... Leaders of several major city unions are blasting the Bloomberg administration's World Trade Center health registry as a waste of money that won't help their sick members. "I'm requesting that the information on the registry be taken off our [union] Web site," said Lee Clarke, health and safety officer for District Council 37, thecity's largest municipal union,which has offices a block from Ground Zero. (NY Daily News, by Maggie Haberman, October 27, 2003)

Whitman's Toxic Power Play: Did Christie Whitman's feud with an EPA investigator leave New Yorkers breathing polluted air? (Mother Jones, By Justin Scheck, October 27, 2003 )

Statement of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton on Governor Leavitt Nomination (News Release, October 27, 2003)

The City Politic: Zero for Heroes ... Many of the people who spent months in the pit at ground zero have respiratory ailments. And no health insurance. And no aid from the government. Why? Rapp's illness began with a faint dizziness and shortness of breath, but it steadily got worse. Before long, he was useless to his former employers. They laid him off. Now Rapp is very, very sick. He's suffering from severe pulmonary disease—meaning he never gets enough air. He has frequent respiratory infections. He's on twelve medicines. He carries an oxygen tank wherever he goes. "I just went straight down," Rapp says, his voice somewhere between a whisper and a rasp. "It's real depressing." He's learning to accept the fact that he may never work again. But with that comes a question: How is Rapp, whose medical costs are now covered by temporary state workers' comp, going to pay for his treatment in the future? (New York Magazine, By Greg Sargent, October 27, 2003)
Frist may seek to force vote on Leavitt nomination ... Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., has said she will block Leavitt's confirmation until the White House answers questions about who told the EPA to assure New Yorkers that air near the World Trade Center rubble was safe after the Sept. 11 attacks.(AP/ Daily Herald, October 24, 2003)

Congress To Hold Hearing Next Week On Health Problems Of WTC Workers ... A congressional hearing next week will examine the long-term health effects on workers at the World Trade Center site. Investigators have invited health and recovery workers to testify at the hearing, which will be held at Mount Sinai Hospital. Since the collapse of the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001, many recovery workers and Lower Manhattan residents have complained of respiratory problems. In August, the Environmental Protection Agency's inspector general released a report which found the agency misled the public about air quality downtown. On Monday, an alliance of environmental advocates urged the government to perform further testing and clean up dust from the collapse. (NY1, October 22, 2003)

Post-9/11 air reports criticized (nyunews.com and washingtonsquarenews.com, by Andres Martinez (10/22/03)

Sierra Club Ad Asks White House to be Honest About 9/11 Information, Conduct Proper Cleanup of Remaining World Trade Center Dust ... The Sierra Club today launched efforts to hold the Bush Administration accountable for misleading the public about the safety of lower Manhattan following the attacks of September 11, 2001. Through a new television ad, the Sierra Club calls attention to White House efforts to downplay health concerns for residents and workers as they returned to their homes and workplaces in the aftermath of the World Trade Center tragedy. The ad also urges the White House to follow the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Inspector General's recommendation to clean up any remaining World Trade Center dust in residences and workplaces. (Sierra Club News Release, October 22 , 2003)

Hil holding EPA's feet to the fire ... Hillary Clinton has led the charge in the Senate for several weeks to block the confirmation of Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt as President Bush's new Environmental Protection Agency administrator. Clinton wants more answers - and more action - from the White House on cleaning up any hazardous chemicals that remain inside buildings in lower Manhattan in the wake of the World Trade Center collapse. So she's putting a hold on Leavitt's confirmation until she gets what she wants. Judging by a new ream of EPA documents on the post-9/11 cleanup that surfaced two weeks ago, Clinton is right to keep demanding answers. Those documents indicate just how deeply involved White House officials were in directing the EPA to publicly minimize health risks in the weeks after 9/11... We know that "no one died from inhalation of the dust," said Paul J. Lioy, deputy director of government relations for the Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences Institute (EOHSI), Piscataway, N.J. "But we don't know what all the health effects are." (NYDailyNews, October 21, 2003)

CITY HEALTH DEPARTMENT ISSUES ENROLLMENT INFORMATION FROM WORLD TRADE CENTER HEALTH REGISTRY: Report Provides Demographic Information on 6,313 People Who Enrolled During First Three-and-a-Half Weeks of Data Collection (New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, October 21, 2003)

Field Hearing Advisory: October 28, 2003 - Assessing September 11th Health Effects: What Should Be Done? US Rep. Christopher Shays (CT-4), Chairman of the Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations, today announced the panel will convene an oversight hearing in New York City to examine the short and long term health effects of the September 11th attack on Ground Zero workers, and steps taken by the federal and local government to diagnose and provide treatment to those affected. (Committee on Government Reform, October 21, 2003)

CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF A DISASTER: Cover Story ... Scientists struggle to understand the complex mixture of aerosols released during and after the destruction of the World Trade Center. With the collapse of New York City's two World Trade Center (WTC) towers on Sept. 11, 2001, more than 1 million tons of dust enveloped lower Manhattan. And fires that lingered at ground zero until December created a plume of smoke initially detectable from space. .. In a broad sense, the WTC attack generated two different kinds of aerosols: pulverized dust from the collapse of the towers and smoke from the fires in the debris pile. Other pollution sources were affected by WTC activity, notably demolition at the site, which started in mid-October; diesel generator emissions; and traffic pollution. The dust "was unlike any dust and smoke mixture I had ever seen before," Lioy said. The fluffy, pink and gray powder "was basically a complex mixture of everything that makes up our workplaces and lives." Six million sq ft of masonry, 5 million sq ft of painted surfaces, 7 million sq ft of flooring, 600,000 sq ft of window glass, 200 elevators, and everything inside came down as dust, said Greg Meeker of USGS. The only thing that didn't get pulverized was the WTC towers' 200,000 tons of structural steel. That was just bent, Meeker said. (Chemical & Engineering News, Volume 81, Number 42, CENEAR 81 42 pp. 26-30, ISSN 0009-2347, October 20, 2003)

Nadler FOIA Request to EPA Demands Answers: Calls for an End to Agency's Silence on 9/11 Response (News Release, October 16, 2003)

The North Tower's Dust Cloud Analysis of Energy Requirements for the Expansion of the Dust Cloud following the Collapse of 1 World Trade Center (by Jim Hoffman, October 16th, 2003)

Infertility linked to 9/11 stress ... Doctors believe that stress caused by the attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001 may have left some women infertile. Out of nearly 400 fertility patients treated at a Manhattan clinic, women who found out they were pregnant after 11 September were 25% more likely to miscarry than those who knew before the attacks that they were expecting a baby. Dust and smoke may have affected the health of the women... It's likely the impact of the psychological stress was prbably compounded by physical factors... (BBC, By Ania Lichtarowicz, 15 October, 2003)

NIEHS Issues Additional Awards to Continue 9/11 Response for Workers and Residents Following WTC Disaster (Press Release, October 15, 2003)

Leavitt finally voted out of Senate committee Wednesday ... Clinton praised Leavitt personally, but said she is still upset the White House had not better explained why it said dust after the 9/11 attacks in New York was safe when EPA data did not back that. (By Lee Davidson, Deseret Morning News, October 15, 2003)

E.P.A. delays release of lead tests ... The Environmental Protection Agency says it is not ready to release its findings on the post-9/11 toxin tests the agency conducted in 250 Lower Manhattan apartments, although community members are concerned after obtaining what appears to be raw data from the tests. (Downtown Express, By Elizabeth O'Brien, October 14 - 20, 2003)

EDITORIAL: Inexcusable delays and indifference at the E.P.A. ... Jo Polett has no science degree, does not work for the government and has no more obligation to try and protect the public than other citizens living near her in Tribeca or anywhere else in America. If Environmental Protection Agency officials had just a fraction of her conscience, Lower Manhattan residents would likely be able to feel better about their long-term health prospects. Polett told us this week that the E.P.A. found five times what is believed to be a safe level of lead in her apartment as a result of the collapse of the World Trade Center. (Downtown Express, October 14 - 20, 2003)
Cloud hangs over ground zero: As many link health woes to air, EPA papers add to concern. ... An atmosphere of distrust pervades Lower Manhattan on these issues. The EPA never did widespread testing of indoor dust and air, a step some scientists said was necessary. Testing and cleanup of offices were voluntary, so many people who work in Lower Manhattan do not know whether they were exposed or continue to be exposed to dangerous chemicals. The safety and health issues have been simmering for two years but exploded into national controversy in late August when the EPA inspector general, an internal agency watchdog, concluded that EPA Administrator Christine Whitman lacked adequate scientific evidence when she told the public on Sept. 18, 2001, that the air downtown was "safe to breathe."... (The Philadelphia Inquirer, By Miriam Hill, Oct. 14, 2003)

Leavitt is a useful pawn for the minority party in a political year ... Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., also has pledged to block Leavitt's nomination from a floor vote. She wants the White House to answer the findings of an EPA inspector general's probe that found high-level censorship of public health hazard warnings in New York City after the collapse of the asbestos-laden World Trade Center towers. "Hillary's hold is a different case than the other three," says Mackenzie. "The White House has to decide how damaging it would be to release the information she wants and whether that damage is minimal enough to justify getting her to lift her hold." (The Salt Lake Tribune, By Christopher Smith, October 13, 2003)

I.B.M. Toxic-Chemical Suit Heads to Court ... Mr. Smith of the Toxic Coalition says that what makes electronics manufacturing unusual is that employees can be steadily exposed to low levels of several chemicals, rather than a single dangerous material, like benzene, shown to cause brain cancer, or asbestos, which has been linked to lung disease. In electronics manufacturing, it is the combination of chemicals, even in small doses over time, that can be lethal, Mr. Smith said. (The New York Times, By Laurie J. Flynn, October 13, 2003)

Details Emerge on Post-9/11 Clash Between White House and E.P.A. ... Tensions between the Environmental Protection Agency and the White House Council on Environmental Quality over informing the public about air safety after the collapse of the World Trade Center may well have been greater than revealed in a report issued by the E.P.A.'s inspector general in August, according to newly released documents. (NY Times, By Jennifer Lee, October 10, 2003)

Sen. Clinton still intends to place hold on EPA nominee ... WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday she still intends to block Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt's nomination to head the Environmental Protection Agency, after her office received new details of how the White House and EPA fought over air quality concerns after Sept. 11. (Casper Star Tribune, 10-10-03)

Air Pollution May Increase Stroke Risk ... High pollution levels may make people more susceptible to stroke, according to a report in today's rapid access issue of Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association... "Particulate matter (PM10) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) seem to be the most important pollutants and the effects appear to be stronger on warm days," Yang said. For each interquartile change – 66.33 microgram per cubic meter change for PM10 and 7.08 parts per billion change for NO2– the risk of hospital admission for primary intracerebral hemorrhage (bursting of a defective brain vessel) increased by 54 percent. The risk of hospital admission from ischemic stroke (resulting from a blood clot blocking blood flow to the brain) increased by 46 percent for PM10 per interquartile change and 55 percent for NO2 per interquartile change. Studies have shown associations between air pollution and daily death rates for respiratory and heart disease. But findings related to pollution's effect on stroke have conflicted. "This study provides new evidence that higher levels of ambient pollutants increase the risk of hospital admissions for stroke, especially on warm days," he said. On cool days, researchers noted a link between carbon dioxide levels and ischemic stroke admissions, but believe this may have been a finding by chance. (Science Daily, 2003-10-10)

Report on Health Effects of Sept. 11 attacks just released ... A National Emvironmental Health Association (NEHA) special report on environmental health work in the aftermath of the 9/11 tragedy has been released on September 22, 2003. (PDF document, October 9, 2003)
WTC Health Registry Ads To Go Up On Subways (NY1, October 8, 2003)

Clinton calls for broader apartment tests Downtown ... Senator Hillary Clinton announced last week that the White House, Congress and independent environmental experts will meet to determine the steps necessary to ensure the health of all New Yorkers affected by the World Trade Center dust plume. (Downtown Express, By Elizabeth O'Brien, October 07 - 13, 2003)

Council introduces pollution reduction bill ... The streets of Lower Manhattan could soon get a little less smoggy. At a City Council hearing last week, the Environmental Protection Agency urged the passage of a bill that would mandate the use of clean air technology for vehicles rebuilding the World Trade Center site. Under the proposed law, construction equipment Downtown, including the W.T.C. site, would have to use ultra low sulfur diesel fuel and special technology to reduce emissions. (Downtown Express, By Sascha Brodsky, October 07 - 13, 2003)

TALKING POINT: Overreacting to Whitman's deceit on air quality (Downtown Express, By Charles Komanoff, October 07 - 13, 2003)
DAY OF INFAMY 2001: False assurances put public at risk ... Watchdog: EPA more concerned about commerce than people's health (WorldNetDaily , By Sheila R. Cherry, October 7, 2003)

Committee Report Finds No EPA Fault After 9/11 ...A Senate Environment and Public Works Committee report released Sept. 23 claims the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the White House did not act inappropriately in addressing public health concerns in New York City after 9/11. The committee's report sharply contrasts an Aug. 22 EPA Inspector General's report that revealed EPA altered press releases to falsely reassure the public because of pressure from the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). (10/06/2003 )

Scientologist's Treatments Lure Firefighters ... For the past year, more than 140 New York City firefighters, some ailing from their work in the ruins of the World Trade Center, have walked into a seventh-floor medical clinic just two blocks from the former disaster site. Once inside, some have abandoned the medical care and emotional counseling provided to them by their own department's doctors, and all have taken up a treatment regimen devised by L. Ron Hubbard, the late science fiction writer and founder of the Church of Scientology. The firefighters take saunas, engage in physical workouts and swallow pills -- all of which together constitute what for years has been known, amid considerable dispute, as Mr. Hubbard's detoxification program, one meant to wash the body of poisons or toxins. The firefighters are not charged for their trips to the clinic, called Downtown Medical. Of the more than 140 firefighters and 15 emergency medical workers who have undergone the program, some have told colleagues of its virtues. Others have said they were simply following the regimen in order to enjoy free saunas. (NYTimes, by Michelle O'Donnell, October 4, 2003)
Investigate White House Deceptions (The Nation, 10/04/2003)

PUBLIC LIVES: A Public Health Warrior, Tracking 9/11 Trends ... DR. POLLY THOMAS is leaning over her computer, reviewing a daily graphic chart of people signing up for the World Trade Center Health Registry. Dr. Thomas is an assistant commissioner for the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.The new registry, one of the biggest public health investigations in history, falls under Dr. Thomas's aegis in the department's Bureau of Surveillance. (NY Times, by Lynda Richardson, October 3, 2003)

Energy & Environment: Setting the Record Straight:: The White House, 9/11, and Air Quality.... It's no shock or scandal that CEQ coordinated, at the request of the President, the multi-agency task force (including EPA and OSHA) that organized the response effort. Put simply, CEQ had a statutory duty to participate in the planning. It's ludicrous to suggest that CEQ should not have played any role. Mr. Catanzaro is Communications Director for the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. (Humaneventsonline, by Michael Catanzaro, Oct 2, 2003)

Bush critics delay vote on Leavitt nomination to head EPA: Democrats boycott meeting ... Senate Democrats, seizing on an opportunity to try to squeeze information from the Bush administration, boycotted a meeting Wednesday and forced a two-week delay in voting to fill the top job at the Environmental Protection Agency. Eight Democrats refused to attend the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee meeting to vote on President Bush's nomination of Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt as EPA administrator. (CNN/AP, October 1, 2003)
White House aids WTC air probe ... The White House has agreed to work with Congress and independent environment experts to review the quality of air in lower Manhattan immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks, Sen. Hillary Clinton said yesterday. The review will seek to determine whether air near Ground Zero was safe to breathe and whether toxins continue to linger in buildings near the attack site.(NY Daily News, October 1, 2003)
Environmental Muddle ... ASENATE COMMITTEE is to vote today on the nomination of Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt (R) to the post of administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, if Democrats do not force postponement through boycott. (Washington Post Editorial, October 1, 2003)

• Messages in the Dust: What are the lessons of the environnmental health response to the terrorist attacks of September 11? (National Environmental Health Association, By Francesca Lyman, September 2003) REPORT
• Clinton blocks E.P.A. appointment over Downtown air ... "There is no doubt the E.P.A., at the White House's direction, misrepresented the air quality" around ground zero, Clinton said during a conference call with reporters after the hearing. "I am not going to stand quietly by and merely vote one way or another when I think it's imperative they take action."Clinton urged the E.P.A. to follow the steps recommended by its independent Office of Inspector General in a report released Aug. 22. The report revealed that the White House influenced what the agency told the public about air safety soon after the attacks of Sept.11, 2001. The E.P.A. "did not have sufficient data and analyses' to announce one week following the disaster that the air in Lower Manhattan was safe to breathe, the report concluded. (Downtown Express, By Elizabeth O'Brien, Sept 30 - Oct 06, 2003)
• Sen. Clinton vows to continue blocking EPA nominee ... WASHINGTON -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday she still plans to block President Bush's nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency in an ongoing dispute over the administration's response to Sept. 11 air-quality concerns. Clinton, D-N.Y., met with White House environmental official James Connaughton Tuesday to discuss her intention to block a Senate vote on Utah governor Mike Leavitt's nomination to head the EPA. Clinton has vowed to use a parliamentary procedure known as a "hold" to prevent a full vote on Leavitt until the White House identifies which of its officials directed EPA, without scientific basis, to assure New Yorkers that air pollution from the World Trade Center rubble posed no threat. She also wants more thorough cleaning and testing of the area surrounding ground zero.(NY Newsday/AP, By Devlin Barrett, Associated Press, September 30, 2003)
• Nadler's Statement on Possible White House Review of EPA's Response to 9/11 (News Release, September 30, 2003)
  
• Survey: New Yorkers Unhappy With 9/11 Air Quality Information ... The Environmental Protection Agency's internal watchdog said Friday some New Yorkers didn't believe what the federal government was saying about air quality after the September 11 attacks. A survey done by the EPA's inspector general found that despite assurances from the agency, people were worried about their health after the Twin Towers collapsed. In a survey of 1,100 New Yorkers, about 83 percent of them who lived near the site said they thought there was a short-term health risk. About 61 percent of Lower Manhattan residents surveyed said they believed there was a long-term risk. About 82 percent of all the respondents also said they were unsatisfied with the EPA's information about outdoor air quality; 85 percent were unhappy about information concerning indoor air quality. (NY1, September 27, 2003)
  
• Report: NYers Unhappy with EPA Air Quality Info ... Most people surveyed "wanted more information regarding outdoor and indoor air quality, wanted this information in a more timely manner and did not believe the information they received," EPA Inspector General Nikki L. Tinsley concluded Friday (1010 WINS, Sep 27, 2003)
• Most Didn't Trust EPA on WTC Air: Survey: Skepticism ran deep just after 9/11 ... "Overall, the majority of respondents wanted more information regarding outdoor and indoor air quality, wanted this information in a more timely manner, and did not believe the information they received."Seventy-six percent initially feared they would suffer ill health from breathing the air in their homes or offices. By this past summer, 58 percent still feared the effects of indoor air. (NY Newsday, By Laurie Garrett, September 27, 2003)
  
• Survey of Air Quality Information Related to the World Trade Center Collapse (Report No. 2003-P-00014, Office of Inspector General, Evaluation Report, September 26, 2003)
• Survey: New Yorkers Unhappy With EPA Info ... (NY Newsday By Hohn Heilprin, September 26, 2003)
• EPA's Non-Scandal ... How can a scandalous report be released without triggering a scandal? There's a case study before us now. The recent report by the inspector general of the Environmental Protection Agency should by all rights have New Yorkers - and others concerned about whether their government is capable of lying about public health and safety - out in the streets. Yet the report has not generated the media coverage and public attention it deserves... Guess what? The EPA report was released on a Friday in August, when much attention - especially from New Yorkers - was fixed on the worst blackout in American history.(By Susan Moeller, September 25, 2003)
• SICKENED ADMAN FILES DENTSU-IT ... A hall-of-fame advertising executive is in federal court with a novel pitch: He got fired because he had the World Trade Center cough. Steve Penchina said he got violently ill from breathing acrid pollutants in the aftermath of the 9/11 attack, and had to cut back his work schedule as executive creative director at DCA Advertising, owned by the world's largest ad group, Dentsu of Japan. Penchina said his Japanese superiors berated and reprimanded him for missing 26 days of work in the three months following 9/11. "Dentsu abhorred sick leave," he said, saying the firm eventually fired him - in violation of numerous state and federal sick-leave rules. Penchina said the WTC air problems were so bad he couldn't even visit clients or his creative crews in lower Manhattan without choking or losing his vision from severely burning eyes. Doctors ordered him to stay at home and undergo therapy for the asthmatic condition, which doctors said was worsened by the polluted air that blanketed much of Manhattan, according to the suit in Manhattan federal court. (New York Post, Sep 25, 2003)
• WTC Health Registry Logs 10,000 ... The New York City Department of Health says that people from 47 states and nine countries have enrolled in the health registry in its first two weeks. Those who enroll are asked to complete a 30-minute telephone survey asking where they were on September Eleventh, 2001, how long they were in smoke-filled areas and whether they have had any health problems since. Participants will be called periodically and asked questions about their health to see if it has changed. The information will be compared with that of the general population to identify any health problems linked to the attacks. All information is confidential, and no medical exams or tests are required. (1010 WINS, Sep 24, 2003)
  
• World Trade Center: Asbestos Site Evaluation, Communication and Cleanup ... shows wipe sampling much better than
  
• microvac sampling for asbestos, and that dust sampling would be a much better indicator of cleaning than EPA's current criterion of "no visible dust." (EPA: Mark Maddaloni, Chuck Nace, Dan Harkay, Marty Freeman and Kathy Callahan, Keystone, Colorado, September 22-26, 2003)
• Hearing on E.P.A. Nominee Takes an Ideological Turn ... Senate Democrats used the confirmation hearing today on Gov. Michael O. Leavitt of Utah, President Bush's choice for administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, as a forum to sharply criticize the administration's environmental record, all but ignoring the nominee sitting in front of them. (NYTimes, by Katharine Q. Seelye, September 24, 2003)
• Political Storm Develops after EPA Inspector General Reports that White House Downplayed Post-9/11 Health Hazards in Lower Manhattan (NYCOSH UPDATE September 24, 2003)
  
• 9/11 Dust Project Seeks People ... But the number of volunteers remains far below the registry's projected goal of enrolling 200,000 people who would be monitored for long-term health effects during the next 20 years. (NY Newsday, By Margaret Ramirez, September 24, 2003)
• Political Storm Develops after EPA Inspector General Reports that White House Downplayed Post-9/11 Health Hazards in Lower Manhattan (NYCOSH, September 24, 2003)
  
• Fools and Their Freedoms Are Soon Parted ... (CapitalBlue, By Doug Thompson, Sep 24, 2003)
• More Than 10,000 People From 47 U.S. States have Signed up for the World Trade Center Health Registry in its First Two Weeks ... Those Closest to the WTC Site on Sept. 11, 2001 or the Weeks and Months that Followed are Urged to Call 311 or visit www.wtcregistry.org (NYCDOHMH News Release, September 23, 2003)
• 10,000 Sign Up With WTC Health Registry (NY Newsday, By Margaret Ramirez, September 23, 2003)
• WTC Health Registry Numbers 10,000 In First Few Weeks ... People who wish to enroll undergo a 30-minute telephone survey to find out where they were on Sept. 11, 2001 and whether they've experienced any health problems since the attacks. Health officials will follow up periodically for the next 20 years. If you think you're eligible, you can call their toll free number at 1-866-NYC-WTCR or visit the website at www.wtcregistry.org. (NY1, by Itay Hod, September 23, 2003)
• Report on Health Effects of Sept. 11 attacks released: A NEHA special report on environmental health work in the aftermath of the 9/11 tragedy (National Environmental Health Association, by Francesca Lyman, September 22, 2003)
  
• Unmasking 'The Cough' ... "In March of this year I began coughing blood," says Willoughby of Levittown, who worked out of Engine Co. 309 in Flatbush. He said that getting masks the first few days at the pit was on a "first come, first serve" basis. ... "In March of this year I began coughing blood," says Willoughby of Levittown, who worked out of Engine Co. 309 in Flatbush. He said that getting masks the first few days at the pit was on a "first come, first serve" basis. ... He left the department in November of last year after tests showed that he had chronic pulmonary disease and a nodule on one of his lungs. Even so, one of his two boys has just passed a written firefighter test. (NY Newsday, Dennis Duggan, September 21, 2003)
• Ground Zero Workers Pay a Price ... As one of the potentially hundreds of Ground Zero workers and volunteers who got sick after Sept. 11, Rapp said he doesn't blame anyone for his illness, which he said has been diagnosed as restricted airway disease, with his lungs coated with the dust of the trade center ruins... Feinberg is encouraging people to apply before the Dec. 22 deadline, anticipating that all eligible claims will be processed and paid by June 15, 2004... Meanwhile, Rapp takes 12 different medicines daily, uses an oxygen tank and inhalers to breathe and sleeps on a recliner, afraid he's going to choke at night if he lays in bed. He fears the humidity and the winter hindering his breathing. (NY Newsday, By Katia Hetter, September 21, 2003)
  
• EPA Labor Unions' Statement on 9/11 Air Quality Scandal (Sep 21, 2003)
• Clearing the Air ... ROBERTA BASKIN: Did somebody from the White House call you at the Environmental Protection Agency and say, "Take it down a notch." ... CHRISTINE TODD WHITMAN: No. We had calls from CEQ, the Council on Environmental Quality, within the White House, on some of the press releases and language. And how we were gonna say things. But nobody said, "Take it down a notch." (Now with Bill Moyers, 09/19/03)
• Kerry Attacks White House For 9/11 Air Quality Reports (NY1, September 18, 2003)
• E.P.A. clears building despite toxic report ... The Environmental Protection Agency oversaw the cleaning of 114 Liberty St. and cleared the building for re-occupancy despite the presence of toxic dust from the World Trade Center collapse, residents charged last week... Dr. Stephen Levin, medical director of the Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine at Mount Sinai, said on Monday that most Lower Manhattan residents have not likely been exposed to enough trade center toxins to significantly increase their risk of cancer 10, 15, or 20 years in the future. (Downtown Express, By Elizabeth O'Brien, September 16 - 22, 2003)
• Christie Whitman defends 9-11 air quality action (By Sandy Stuart, Observer-Tribune, 09/18/2003)
  
• Kerry endorsed by environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ... Kerry took aim at the Bush administration's stance on environmental issues and joined those calling for an investigation after an internal report from the Environmental Protection Agency said the agency, at the urging of White House officials, gave misleading assurances there was no health risk from the dust in the air after the collapse of the World Trade Center towers on Sept. 11, 2001. (Associated Press/NY Newsday, by Deepti Hajela, September 18, 2003)
• Dems Demand Hearings on EPA Air Quality Reports ... Democrats on Wednesday asked for hearings into allegations the Environmental Protection Agency misled New Yorkers about the dangers of debris in the air around the World Trade Center site after the Sept. 11 attacks. "We do not want the Congress of the United States to be party to a scandal," said the House Democratic leader, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, of California. .... In response, Clinton has said she will put a hold on President Bush's nomination of Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt to head the EPA to force the administration to answer questions about the EPA's actions. (1010 WINS, Sep 17, 2003)
• White House Daily Briefing, September 17, 2003 ... Q: One other thing, if I could, on a slightly different topic. Did the administration ever get to the bottom of this claim by Senator Clinton that the EPA misinformed the public about the dangers of contaminants in the air after 9/11? Mr. McClellan: The EPA did respond to her initial letter and addressed those issues. We have addressed this repeatedly. We have also -- I believe a second letter was sent and we've indicated that the Chairman of the Council of Environmental Quality will be happy to sit down and meet with her. We're working on those details. And we'll be glad to sit down and meet with her to talk to her about the steps that we took to protect the health and safety of New Yorkers, specifically workers, in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks, including providing respirators for those workers and encouraging those workers to wear those respirators....
• Democratic Leader Pelosi, Rep. Nadler and Ranking Members Demand Congressional Investigation on EPA's Failed Response to 9/11 (News Release, September 17, 2003)
  
• Edwards Joins Move to Block Bush EPA Pick ... Clinton, who was the first to say she would block Leavitt's nomination, said she would not allow it to go forward until the administration responds more fully to a report that the EPA misled New Yorkers about the health risks from contaminated air in the aftermath of the World Trade Center terrorist attacks. An EPA inspector general said he EPA, at White House request, provided misleading advisories about the potential risks. Administration officials have denied any intention to mislead. Any senator can put a hold on a nomination, preventing it from being scheduled for a floor vote. Traditionally Senate leaders, no matter which party, have abided by such a request, although a nomination may still go through the committee process. (Guardian Newspapers/Associated Press, by H. Josef Herbt, September 16, 2003)
• World Trade Center Health Registry ... The city's health department has announced plans for what could become the largest public-health investigation ever: a comprehensive survey to follow the health of those people most directly exposed to 9/11's World Trade Center collapse and the subsequent clean-up efforts. (Gotham Gazette, by Sue Wilson, September, 2003)
  
• 9/11: The Toll on Rescue Workers ... Those include many in the building trades who often cannot return to work at their old jobs for fear of re-exposing themselves to dust and other irritants that can trigger asthmatic attacks, she said. "Many were at the peak of their earning years, with kids about to go to college. It's been terrible," she said. ... Keller spitting up handfuls of sand, dirt and small pebbles for two days, as if someone had ground his face and mouth into a sandbox. He is the only one who has been able to return to work regularly; Giebfried has gone back to work but since January has been hospitalized twice and taken to the emergency room seven times due to asthma... "Every time I get sick, it puts me 10 steps behind," Giebfried said. "People keep telling me there's nothing wrong with me, but I used to fish, play racquetball and soccer, paddleball. I can't run anymore. I get wiped out." DeShore, who is also pursuing a workers' compensation claim, said she recently had a noncancerous lump removed from her throat, something she fears may be related to her 9/11 exposures. (NY Newsday, By Roni Rabin, September 16, 2003)
• Environmental Defense Calls Clean Ferry Project First Of Its Kind: Cooperative Effort To Clean Private Ferries In New York Harbor Sets National Precedent ... "Diesel emissions contain more than 40 cancer-causing compounds, and since 9/11 the number of diesel ferries in New York Harbor has almost doubled," said Environmental Defense Living Cities program director Andy Darrell ... This project will clean emissions from more than 40 diesel-powered ferries or 85% of the total ferries in New York Harbor. At this time, none of the ferries in the Harbor are equipped with pollution controls. By using retrofits and cleaner fuels like ultra low sulfur diesel, this project could reduce emissions by 75 to 90%. (News Release, 09/16/03)
  
• 9/11 Environmental Action, New York Committee for Occupational Safety & Health (NYCOSH), Sierra Club (Press Release, September 15, 2003)
• NYers Protest Downtown Air Quality ... Anger about the air quality in lower Manhattan escalated yesterday as a coalition of residents, office workers and health experts cited evidence that asbestos and other toxins remain inside buildings at dangerous levels. (NY Newsday, By Margaret Ramirez, September 15, 2003)
• Lower Manhattan Residents Continue Criticism Of Air Quality ... Some Lower Manhattan residents are again lashing out at the federal government about the air quality in their neighborhood. (NY1, September 15, 2003)
• Concerned Residents and Workers Demand the Truth About Toxic Hazards from the WTC Attack and Proper Cleanup (News Release, September 15, 2003)
• 9/11 AIR OUTRAGE ... Christie Whitman has three words for many of the Ground Zero rescue workers suffering from "tower lung" and other lingering health problems: We warned you. (NYPost, By Susan Edelman and Stefan C. Friedman, September 14, 2003)
• Sept 11 is also the worst urban environmental disaster ... Some environmentalists in the United States believe the tragedy of September 11 was not only the worst terrorist attack against America. To them, it is also the worst urban environmental disaster. (channelnewsasia, by US Correspondent Catherine Drew, 12 September 2003)
• World Trade Center Health Coverup? Experts frustrated by false reassurances of air safety (Consumer Health Interactive, By Laurie Udesky, Sept. 12, 2003)
• TWO YEARS LATER: AIR QUALITY; Study Says Ground Zero Soot Lingered ... (NYTtimes, by Kirk Johnson, September 11, 2003)
• Anger builds over EPA's 9-11 report ... Apartments were tested for only one pollutant: asbestos. The testing method used excluded active testing, which uses a fan to kick up the pollutants lurking in carpets, drapes and corners, unless applicants opted for the most aggressive cleanup, which prohibited the resident from being present (and, some say, discouraged many people from signing up). (MSNBC, By Francesca Lyman, September 11, 2003)
• Still in the dark over WTC dust ... Two years after the collapse of the World Trade Center, health officials still have no idea whether most of lower Manhattan's commercial buildings have been properly cleaned. In February 2002, the city Department of Environmental Protection asked owners of 1,073 residential and commercial buildings near Ground Zero to furnish reports of all post-9/11 environmental tests and cleanup work. The city received responses from only 354 buildings, DEP spokesman Charles Sturcken said yesterday. Of those, 31 buildings - nearly 10% - reported hazardous asbestos levels that required professional abatement. But two-thirds of building owners did not even reply - and 18 months later, the city has not followed up. (NY Newsday, September 11, 2003)
• Health fears over Twin Towers' plume ... Paul Lioy, of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, emphasised to the meeting the sheer diversity of chemicals that were present in the dust. A mixture of plastics, computer hardware, synthetic furniture and hundreds of miles of wire burned to produce an aerosol of astonishing complexity. Out of 400 organic alkanes, pthalates and polyaromatic hydrocarbons he identified, the majority had never before been detected in the air, he says. One such compound, detected by researchers from the US Environmental Protection Agency, was diphenyl propane, thought to have come from burning plastic. The health consequences of breathing it are totally unknown, says EPA scientist Leonard Stockburger. Scientists from the US Geological Survey showed that even among the well-known molecules and crystals, new shapes of particle were thrown up by the plume. "They detected fibrous, cylindrical materials, which have a totally different behaviour to spherical particles," says Michael Hays of the EPA, who attended the meeting. "How does that influence inhalation routes?" But the scientists were careful to be clear about their message. "We don't want people to get the wrong impression. For long term effects, we are simply in an area of unknowns," says Lioy. (NewScientist.com, 11 September 03)
  
• Editorial Flip-Flop: Daily News Revives Buried Scoop (Village Voice, by Cynthia Cotts, September 10 - 16, 2003)
  
• 'Brutal' effects of Ground Zero fumes ... Scientists who have analysed the aftermath of the 11 September 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center say that workers at Ground Zero suffered "brutal" effects from the fumes coming out of the wreckage. (BBC, 09/10/03)
  
• Trade Center Debris Pile Was A Chemical Factory, Says New Study ... (Science Daily, 2003-09-11)
• The Alarming Report About The EPA's Response To 9/11 ... Two chapters of the report, about 20 pages total, defend the legality of the Environmental Protection Agency's behavior at and around Ground Zero, while at the same time chiding it for not being "proactive" enough in asserting its authority in various realms. One realm in particular, cleanup of indoor spaces contaminated by the attack, comes under special scrutiny. The report notes that in the first months after the attack agency press releases "deferred to the New York City Department of Health guidance even though EPA's position on indoor cleanup was different [from] the city's." When it comes to explaining this institutional timidity, however, the report goes timid itself: "EPA does not have clear statutory authority to establish and enforce health-based regulatory standard for indoor air," the report notes. "Neither CERCLA [Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act] nor NCP [National Contingency Plan] obligate EPA to undertake response actions." (Gotham Gazette, by Sam Williams, September, 2003)
• Wrangling Over a Cleanup at 90 Church Street ... Two years after the collapse of the World Trade Center across the street rained debris and contaminated dust on 90 Church Street, the Art Deco former federal building is still in the midst of legal wrangles and problems with cleaning it up... The World Trade Center attack caused some fires and broken windows, but 90 Church the building survived; no one in the building was killed or seriously injured. The real damage, it turned out, was in the dust and debris that fell onto the site, and the mold from water that poured into the building. Tests found that the interior was permeated with lead, mercury, asbestos, heavy metals, bacteria and mold. (NY Times, by Josh Barbanel, September 10, 2003)
• Full Effects of WTC Pollution May Never Be Known ... The air that hovered over New York in the months after the collapse of the Twin Towers contained an unprecedented combination of chemicals, scientists said yesterday. As such, they said it may be impossible to forecast the longterm health impact. The scientists, from a host of government and university laboratories, gathered yesterday for the first time to compare findings about the dust, debris and polluted air in the aftermath of 9/11, in a conference at the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society. (NY Newsday, By Laurie Garrett, September 10, 2003)
• 'False Claim' by EPA Alleged in N.Y. Cleanup: Building Near Ground Zero at Issue ... An Environmental Protection Agency hazardous-waste expert charged in a memorandum released yesterday that her agency repeatedly mishandled the cleanup of an apartment building near the site of the World Trade Center in New York and then made a false scientific claim in arguing against conducting a third cleanup. Cate Jenkins, a 24-year EPA veteran who has butted heads with the agency's leadership before, said that the EPA made a "false claim" that the asbestos found by independent experts retained by the building's residents had been there before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. "EPA made no attempt to determine the accessibility of the areas tested by residents before dismissing them as being from previously existing asbestos," she said in her memo. The EPA's decision that the building was "clean" meant that the residents were no longer entitled to federal cleanup assistance, although the residents' study found that dust was still visible inside and contained levels of asbestos and silica far in excess of federal health standards. (Washington Post, By Eric Pianin and Michael Powell, September 10, 2003)
• Health Worries Plague Ground Zero Workers ... Today marks the two-year deadline for workers hurt on Sept. 11 to file claims with the state Workers Compensation Board. Some unions have been reminding their members of the deadline to protect their rights should a problem arise down the road. Board spokesman John Sullivan said 5,539 people, including Ground Zero workers, have filed claims so far for injury or exposure. Thomassen estimated that about 150 of 1,000 Ground Zero carpenters have received medical help for respiratory conditions.(NY Newsday, By Graham Rayman, September 10, 2003)
• Study: WTC fires spewed toxic gases for weeks (CNN, September 10, 2003)
• Lingering peril of 9/11: Ground Zero workers ran toxic risk, UCD study says (The Sacramento Bee, by Chris Bowman, September 10, 2003)
• Study sees Trade Center health issues (MSNCB, September 10, 2003)
• Memo spills dirt on EPA's WTC cleanup (NY Daily News, by Maggie Haberman, 9/10/03)
• Editorial Flip-Flop: Daily News Revives Buried Scoop (September 10 - 16, 2003)
• Families Dispute EPA Pollution Findings ... Two years after the 9/11 tragedy, some residents of lower Manhattan have not returned to their homes because tests show levels of asbestos, silica and other toxins remain at dangerous levels. (NY Newsday, By Laurie Garrett, September 9, 2003)
  
• EPA scientist: WTC dust still in building cleaned after attacks .... David Stanke, president of the building's condominium board, said the apartment owners have approved more than $7.5 million in cleaning costs separate from the government. He said the building is still uninhabitable. (NY Newsday, by Amy Westfeldt, September 9, 2003)
• 9/11: What Did the EPA Know and When Did It Know It? (Institute for Public Accuracy Experts News Release, September 9, 2003)
• Cleanup Did Not Make Building Across From WTC Safe, EPA Memo Says ... An indoor cleanup by the Environmental Protection Agency following the World Trade Center attack has not eliminated the health risk in a Downtown apartment building, according to a memo by a veteran worker at the agency... According to Jenkins, the EPA ignored independent tests commissioned by residents which showed high levels of asbestos and silica dust, this despite undergoing two abatements. (NY1, September 9, 2003)
• Nadler: New Whistleblower Document Reveals Failure of EPA Indoor Cleanup Program: "Best Effort" Cleanup at 114 Liberty Street Left Behind Dangerous Toxins; Residents Still Displaced 2 Years Later (Nadler, September 9, 2003)
  
• NY1 For You: Two Years After 9/11, Residents Of 114 Liberty Street Still Haven't Moved Home ... But they're still concerned about the neighboring Deutsche Bank building. "Who is going to make a guarantee to us that when they start dismantling that or whatever it is that's going to happen that we're not going to get contaminated again?" says Abramson. "If they decide to take it down, we've got two or three years of deconstruction followed by three more years of construction," says Stanke. (NY1, September 9, 2003)
• Registry Seeks Answer To The Question: "Was WTC Air Safe To Breathe?" ... Two years after the attack on the World Trade center, city and federal health officials launched a registry that may finally answer one very important question: Was the air around the area known as "Ground Zero" unsafe to breathe? "We're going to tell it like it is," said Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Frieden on Friday. The promise by health officials comes at a particularly sensitive time, just two weeks after a report by the U.S. inspector general concluded that the White House deliberately suppressed sensitive information regarding the poor air quality around Ground Zero in the days immediately following the attacks. (NY1, September 9, 2003)
• Toxic Dangers from 9/11 (Flashpoints, September 9, 2003)
• Health effects plague 9/11 rescuers ... When Dan Kochensparger was on his hands and knees sifting through cement, metal and other debris at the World Trade Center site in New York, specks were floating in the thick air. He didn't think about what they were... Preliminary results show 48 percent of workers with ear, nose and throat problems such as nasal congestion, hoarseness, headaches and throat irritation. Thirty percent have pulmonary problems, including shortness of breath, persistent cough and wheezing. (CNN, September 8, 2003)
• E.P.A. in the Cross Hairs ... The Environmental Protection Agency and the White House Council on Environmental Quality have been sharply criticized for playing down the potential dangers of exposure to ash, smoke and dust generated by the collapse of the World Trade Center... The main issue is whether apartments and offices have been adequately cleaned and tested to ensure that no toxic dust remains to cause a long-term risk to inhabitants. The inspector general's report faults both the E.P.A. and, by implication, New York City's Health Department for failing to press residents and businesses to seek professional cleaning in contaminated apartments instead of doing the cleaning themselves... (NY Times OP-ED, September 7, 2003)
• Uncertainty Lingers Over 9/11 Air Pollution ... The air in Lower Manhattan after Sept. 11 has swirled back into the news -- what people knew about it, when they knew it and what they said about it... "Generally for the public, her statement wasn't that far off in the end," said George D. Thurston, an associate professor of environmental medicine at the New York University School of Medicine. "But it was premature and had no basis at that point. People don't want to be reassured. They want the facts." ... (NY Times, by Kirk Johnson, September 7, 2003)
• Clinton to Block E.P.A. Nominee to Pressure Bush on Air Quality ... Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton said yesterday that she would block the nomination of Gov. Michael O. Leavitt of Utah as the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency until President Bush responded to her concerns about air quality around the World Trade Center... "This is a really serious issue that has long-lasting consequences not only for New York, but also for the quality of our environment and the trust in our government," she said. "I can see no other way to get the administration's attention." (NY Times, by Winnie Hu, September 7, 2003)
• 9/11 health watch: 300,000 around WTC to be studied for 20 yrs... Brooklynites living or working in areas where the dust cloud traveled over aren't eligible. (NY Daily News, By Maggie Haberman, September 7, 2003)
• Inquiry Opens Into Effects of 9/11 Dust ... One of the biggest public health investigations in history opened yesterday in Lower Manhattan, aiming to follow the long-term physical and mental journeys of up to 200,000 people who were exposed to fire and smoke on Sept. 11, 2001. (NYTimes, by Kirk Johnson, September 6, 2003)
  
• Clinton To Block EPA Nominee ... Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Saturday she planned to block President Bush's nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency because of a report suggesting the EPA misled New Yorkers about post-Sept. 11 health risks. (NY Newsday, September 6, 2003)
• Respiratory Problems For Downtown Residents ... Preliminary results of a study organized by the New York State Department of Health, NYU/Bellevue, and local community organizations show that residents of Lower Manhattan who have lived within a one-mile radius of Ground Zero since 9/11 have significantly more persistent new-onset respiratory symptoms ... Interestingly, the lung damage was not apparent from the tests doctors usually use first to diagnose asthma and other lung damage-a test called spirometry, which measures how quickly and efficiently the lungs can exhale and inhale. The lung damage showed up during a test called a methacholine challenge, which can be used to test for asthma or to determine a person's likelihood of developing asthma. Affected residents were discovered to have "twitchy lungs", meaning that their lungs reacted more quickly to potential asthma triggers. (Community Board #1 Dispatch News, click on Summer 2003)
• Government Creates Registry To Track 9/11-Related Illnesses ... Due to lingering concerns about health effects, the government has started a health registry for New Yorkers who think they've come down with an illness related to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center... Experts said the dust and debris created by the collapse of the Twin Towers may have dozens of unknown health effects. "Without a registry, it would be very difficult to actually put together all the people who were there, how they were exposed, what they're circumstances were, where they were, what kinds of health problems they have," said Dr. Henry Falk of the Centers for Disease Control. (NY1, September 6, 2003)
• Troubled By 9/11 Air Report, Clinton Plans To Block Bush's EPA Nominee ... Troubled by a report concerning health risks in the city after the terror attacks, Senator Hillary Clinton plans to block President George W. Bush's EPA nominee. (NY1, September 6, 2003)
• Exclusive: 'We Were Not Told to Lie' About 9/11 and Health ... After stepping down this summer as the head of the EPA, the embattled Christine Todd Whitman is once again in the hot seat. (NEWSWEEK, Sept. 8 issue)
• Clinton Calls on President to Provide Answers Regarding EPA's Response to 9/11: Senator Remains Outraged by EPA's Suppression of Information Following World Trade Center Disaster and Reiterates Call For Senate Hearings Into the Matter (News Release, September 5, 2003)
• Registry to monitor WTC health effects ... NEW YORK (AP) -- City and federal health officials launched a registry Friday to track any long-term health effects from the collapse of the World Trade Center's twin towers... Falk said people should enroll even if they feel they're healthy by calling either 311 or 1-866-NYC-WTCR, or going on the registry Web site. (CNN, September 5, 2003)
• INHOFE ISSUES STATEMENT ON EPA IG REPORT: Rejects request for hearing, denounces political attacks on the President ... Washington, D.C.--Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), chairman of the Committee on Environment and Public Works, responded today to a request for a committee hearing on the EPA's Inspector General report that examined EPA's response to September 11: Today four Democratic members of the EPW Committee sent me a letter requesting a hearing on the report by the EPA's Office of Inspector General detailing the federal government's response to the September 11th attacks. Considering the unprecedented nature of the attacks, the response, in all its forms, was highly commendable, as hundreds of dedicated and courageous public servants, surrounded by fear and chaos, went to extraordinary lengths to provide the public with essential information about air quality and health risks. 'My staff has been studying the IG report and, if necessary, will take appropriate steps to gather any additional information that can shed light on this matter. Thus it is not necessary to hold a public hearing in order for the committee to conduct its oversight role. (News Release, September 4, 2003)
• Senior EPA specialists Comment Today On Deletions of Warnings About 9/11 Toxins (Institute for Public Accuracy News Release, September 4, 2003)
• Whitman: EPA told all the truth: Insists post-9/11 Ground Zero statements were not politicized ... The following is the transcript of NBC News' interview with former EPA Administrator Christie Whitman contesting the EPA inspector general's report charging that the EPA did not give full information to the public about the safety of breathing the air around the World Trade Center site in New York City after Sept. 11, 2001. (MSNBC, Sept. 3, 2003)
• What was known about post-9/11 air: Inspector general says White House changed EPA statements about safety at Ground Zero ... In fact, a new report by Tinsley's office says, at the time, more than 25 percent of dust samples collected before Sept. 18 showed unsafe levels of asbestos. And the EPA had no test results at all on PCBs, dioxins or particulates in the air that can cause respiratory problems. Tinsley said, "The EPA did not give the people of New York complete information. It had put together press releases that were more informative than those that it ultimately released...." (MSNBC, By Lisa Myers, Sept. 3, 2003)
• Raising a stink about the EPA ... As traumatized New Yorkers trudged through ash-covered streets after 9/11, many wondered how dangerous it was to breathe the acrid air that smelled of chemicals and death. Common sense said the asbestos, benzene and other toxins released in the collapse would harm those who inhaled them. But the Environmental Protection Agency insisted otherwise... A News poll of New Yorkers found that 77% believe the EPA's voluntary cleanup program downtown was insufficient and that the federal government should pay for a full decontamination of commercial and residential buildings affected by 9/11.(NY Daily News, Sept. 3, 2003)
• NADLER TO WHITMAN: A LIE IS A LIE IS A LIE ... Rebuts Whitman's Comments in Newsweek on WTC Debris Clean-Up (News Release, September 2, 2003)
• WTC air fit to breathe? ... (NY Daily News, By Marianne Lamont Horinko, September 2nd, 2003)
• Christie airs EPA handling of 9/11 ... Former environmental chief Christie Whitman says the White House never told her to lie about air quality near Ground Zero - but concedes she did not object when words of caution were pulled from public statements... About 40% of the 6,300 workers and volunteers screened by Mount Sinai Medical Center as of June suffered from respiratory problems. The former EPA head also told Newsweek her agency repeatedly warned people living near Ground Zero to have their homes professionally cleaned before returning. (NYDaily News, September 1, 2003)

AUGUST

• Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and other semivolatile organic compounds collected in New York City in response to the events of 9/11... The results indicate that the remaining air plumes from the disaster site were comprised of many pollutants and classes and represent a complex mixture of biogenic (wood-smoke) and anthropogenic sources. ... In addition, the compound 1,3-diphenylpropane[1',1'-(1,3-propanediyl)bis-benzene] was observed, and to our knowledge, this species has not previously been reported from ambient sampling. It has been associated with polystyrene and other plastics, which are in abundance at the WTC site. These emissions lasted for at least 3 weeks (September 26-October 21, 2001) after the initial destruction of the WTC. (Environ Sci Technol. 2003 Aug 15;37(16):3537-46.)
• Many Still Not Breathing Easy ... Elizabeth Eagle was living on the Lower East Side two years ago, and her husband worked at American Express across the street from the World Trade Center. Shortly after the terror attack, Eagle, with no history of pulmonary problems, experienced pain in her sinuses and trouble breathing. "It turned out I had sinusitis, and I had never had a sinus infection in my life," she said yesterday at the downtown Nelson Rockefeller Park. "In April [2002] I had sinus surgery at St. Vincent's." ... "I was put on [the inhaler] Ibuterol," Betty's co-worker Jeane said. "I couldn't breathe. And I never had asthma or any problems before." The women said their employer ordered them back to their offices after the EPA said the downtown air was "safe to breathe." And "one by one, everybody got sick," co-worker Michelle said. "It was a sort of cold. ... And it would go on and on and on." (NY Newdsay, by Laurie Garrett, August 28, 2003)
  
• Health Problems Persist Among Ground Zero Workers ... Nearly two years after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, a medical screening program continues to reveal a surprisingly high rate of physical and mental health problems among cleanup and rescue workers at the site. About 48 percent of workers screened had ear, nose and throat problems such as nasal congestion, hoarseness, headaches and throat irritation, according to the latest figures from the program. Another 30 percent had pulmonary problems, including shortness of breath, persistent cough and wheezing... "It was such a massive irritant exposure," Moline said. "Some people will be left with permanent respiratory symptoms." Soot from the collapse of the towers contained asbestos, lead, glass fibers and concrete. (1010Wins, August 28, 2003)
  
• Time to come clean on mess downtown ... One of the biggest issues for the rebuilding of lower Manhattan is what to do about cleaning up the environmental mess caused by 9/11.... The federal government's cleanup program did not even begin to address the problem. For one thing, it was limited to apartments - and then only for people who requested it. Left out of the program were some 1,500 commercial buildings used each day by tens of thousands of workers. (NYDaily News, by Juan Gonzalez, August 28, 2003)
• Clinton and Nadler Seek Inquiry Into E.P.A. Response to Sept. 11 ... Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Representative Jerrold L. Nadler called yesterday for a Congressional inquiry into the Environmental Protection Agency's response to the World Trade Center attack, saying that the agency and the White House had not told the truth about potential health hazards... Standing on the steps of City Hall, Senator Clinton charged that the agency had failed to provide adequate warnings, leading rescue workers, residents and others to take fewer precautions after the attacks. She demanded that the agency undertake new testing and cleaning. (New York Times, by Winnie Hu, August 27, 2003, requires free password)
  
• Air Scare! Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Acting EPA Administrator Marianne Lamont Horinko respond to a report that says the White House gave the all-clear on Manhattan air quality too soon after the September 11th attacks. (The Brian Lehrer Show, August 27, 2003)
• Greens Call for Investigation and Prosecution of EPA, NSC, White House Officials Who Lied About the Quality of Air Near the 9/11 Site in New York City (News Release, August 27, 2003)
• E.P.A. admits to 'mistakes' after 9/11 ... U.S. Rep Jerrold Nadler called on the Environmental Protection Agency to undertake a thorough cleaning of residences and workplaces affected by dust from the World Trade Center collapse after an independent report recommended that the agency take further action against indoor contamination. The agency criticized the report, but acknowledged unspecified 'mistakes.' ... Gerson has introduced legislation that would require the city Department of Environmental Protection to collect 'statistically and scientifically sound' ground, dust, and air sampling throughout the entire area that was under the trade center dust plume. The results would help the E.P.A. in its cleaning efforts, Gerson said. (Downtown Express, By Elizabeth O'Brien, Aug. 26 - Sept. 1, 2003)
• Clinton calls for hearings on EPA's 9/11 report ... Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton called Tuesday for Senate hearings on a recently released Environmental Protection Agency inspector general's report that says the agency prematurely asserted that the air was safe to breathe after the... (CNN, August 26, 2003)
• Sen. Clinton On WTC Air: "They Didn't Tell Us The Truth" ... Joined by several city and health officials, Senator Hillary Clinton Tuesday accused the White House of giving false assurances about air quality in Lower Manhattan following the September 11, 2001 attacks... Even the man who was praised for his leadership during the aftermath of 9/11 didn't come out unscathed. The report states former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani declined assistance from the EPA... Both Clinton and Nadler say they're demanding an investigation into this scandal, and request a new clean-up be put into motion to ensure the safety of those still living and working in Lower Manhattan. (NY1, August 26, 2003)
• OP-ED: Dust and Deception ... Last week a quietly scathing report by the inspector general of the Environmental Protection Agency confirmed what some have long suspected: in the aftermath of the World Trade Center's collapse, the agency systematically misled New Yorkers about the risks the resulting air pollution posed to their health. And it did so under pressure from the White House. (NYTimes, by Paul Krugman, August 26, 2003, requires free password)
• It's public be damned at the EPA ... For nearly two years, officials at the federal Environmental Protection Agency have denied that they failed to properly inform New Yorkers of the dangers of toxic releases from the collapse of the World Trade Center... The White House changes were the work of James Connaughton, chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality. Connaughton, who had been on the job for three months, was an industry lawyer who represented major asbestos and toxic polluters before his appointment by President Bush... According to the scathing new report, the EPA passed off a misleading minimum asbestos safety standard of 70 fibers per square millimeter - though its own policy for years has stated there is no known safe level of asbestos. (NY Daily News, by Juan Gonzalez, August 26, 2003)
• Hil wants Bush to clear the air on EPA's actions after 9/11 ... Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday asked President Bush to explain a government report's charges that the White House concealed information about potential air quality risks after the World Trade Center attack two years ago. (AP/NY Daily News, August 26, 2003)
• Nadler Says IG Report Confirms That EPA-led Cleanup is Flawed and Inadequate: Calls on Mayor Bloomberg to Demand a Proper Post 9/11 NYC Cleanup (News Release, August 26, 2003)
  
• Nadler Demands DOJ Investigation on White House and EPA 9/11 Response (News Release, August 25, 2003)
  
• Senators Clinton and Lieberman Demand Explanation of White House Role in Suppressing Public Health Information Following World Trade Center Disaster (News Release, August 26, 2003)
  
• The Air After 9/11 ... The final report, released Friday, included a response from EPA defending its conduct, saying that the agency did the best that it could under the circumstances. But both U.S. Representative Jerrold Nadler, whose district includes lower Manhattan, and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton called on the Justice Department to investigate the environmental agency's response to the terror attacks. (Gotham Gazette, August 25, 2003)
• EPA critical, but in Bush Mike trusts .... Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday the city will review a report accusing the White House of deliberately playing down environmental risks after the terror attacks ... The information withheld included guidance on cleaning indoor spaces, as well as potential health effects of being exposed to asbestos, lead, concrete and pulverized glass, the report found. (NY Daily Daily News, by Lisa L. Colangelo, August 25, 2003)
• Editorial: Clear the air on WTC toxins ... The credibility of the federal Environmental Protection Agency is in tatters. Here's what it must do to restore it: Admit that there were, and remain, serious lower Manhattan health hazards brought about by the destruction of the World Trade Center. Then permit an independent source, such as the federal Centers for Disease Control, to monitor a cleanup - a real one... Clinton promises to fight to get cash for downtown. "It's not too late to act," she told this page yesterday, "The federal government must pay for the cleanup and do what it promised originally."...(NY Daily Daily News, August 25, 2003)
• Taking on EPA ... The Environmental Protection Agency and the White House should be investigated for lying to New Yorkers about air quality following the 2001 World Trade Center attacks, a Manhattan congressman said yesterday. (NYDailyNews, by Helen Peterson, August 24, 2003)
• Mayor Backs President On 9/11 Air Quality Reports ... Mayor Michael Bloomberg Sunday defended President George W. Bush's handling of air quality reports after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. (NY1, August 24, 2003)
• The Air Is Thick With Lies ... I was a few hundred yards up on Liberty Street when the Two Tower of the World Trade Center blew. I put my nose inside my shirt and ran through smoke that turned day into night. In the smoke were computers, asbestos, pulverized glass, human bodies, lead. I got on another street and One Tower blew up. Again, the air was black with a pulverized 110-story building. I did not feel well for two months. I never said anything because I was too embarrassed. A couple of thousand had died. So many others were scorched and broken and maimed. I had no right to open my mouth, I thought. Besides, from the first day, the government's Environmental Protection Agency had announced that air was remarkably clean. Work on. Breathe on. You're fine... Now what are we supposed to do? By now I feel better physically because I have adjusted to feeling lousy. I'm not going near a doctor. Once I read what was in that air, and in it for all those days I spent around there, I didn't want to know anything more. Don't scare me. My friend Dan Collins, whose office is on Broadway, only yards up from the site, said he has not taken a good breath for two years. "They tell me it's good and I know it's bad," he said.(NY Newsday, by Jimmy Breslin, August 24, 2003)
• Cite W. House in cleaned-up WTC air claim ... The White House pressured the Environmental Protection Agency to sanitize its immediate assurances about Ground Zero - leading to premature statements that the air was safe to breathe, a federal watchdog said. (NYDailyNews, by Greg Grittich, August 24, 2003)
• Mayor Backs President On 9/11 Air Quality Reports ... A day after Congressman Jerrold Nadler called for an investigation into the EPA's reports on air quality around the World Trade Center site following the September 11, 2001 attacks, Mayor Michael Bloomberg Sunday defended President George W. Bush's handling of the reports. (NY1, August 24, 2003)
• City to Review EPA Report On Ground Zero Air ... The city will review a report that claims the White House sought to downplay possible health risks posed by World Trade Center dust and debris, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Sunday. (1010Wins, August 24, 2003)
• Nadler Calls For Probe After Report Concludes EPA Downplayed 9/11 Health Risks ... Congressman Jerrold Nadler is calling for a congressional probe following the release of an internal Environmental Protection Agency report that concludes the White House pressured the EPA to downplay health risks associated with the September 11 terror attacks. (NY1, August 23, 2003)
• A Stink Over Air Quality, Report: White House misled city on post-9/11 health issues ... "When the EPA made a September 18 announcement that the air was 'safe' to breathe, it did not have sufficient data and analyses to make such a blanket statement," the report says.(NY Newsday, by Laurie Garrett, August 23, 2003)
• EPA Pressed to Call Air Safe After 9/11, Report Says ... The Environmental Protection Agency's internal watchdog says White House officials pressured the agency to prematurely assure the public that the air was safe to breathe a week after the World Trade Center collapse... the report found, EPA was persuaded to omit from its early public statements guidance for cleaning indoor spaces and tips on potential health effects from airborne dust containing asbestos, lead, glass fibers and concrete.(Washington Post/AP, by John Heilprin, August 23, 2003)
  
• Reps Push for Federal Inquiry Into EPA Cover-Up ... City officials and residents of lower Manhattan Saturday called for a congressional investigation into the White House's role in the Environmental Protection Agency's alleged air quality cover-up after Sept. 11, and demanded a proper cleanup of the area... John Quinn, 54, who lives in lower Manhattan, said he had always considered himself to be a healthy person. After the attacks, he was quick to return to his apartment near the South Street Seaport. Then one day, he said, he caught a cold he just couldn't shake. "The doctor finally told me, 'It's not a cold, you have asthma,'" Quinn said. "They don't know if it will ever go away." (NYNewsday, By Cynthia Needham, August 23, 2003)
• EPA told to alter post-9/11 reports ... Discovery of asbestos higher than safe levels in dust samples from lower Manhattan was changed to state that "samples confirm previous reports that ambient air quality meets OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) standards and consequently is not a cause for public concern." Language in an EPA draft stating that asbestos levels in some areas were three times higher than national standards was changed to "slightly above the 1 percent trigger for defining asbestos material." (The Contra Costa Times/NYNewsday, by Laurie Garrett, August 23, 2003)
  
• EPA misled public on 9/11 pollution: White House ordered false assurances on air quality, report says ... San Francisco Chronicle/NYNewsday, by Laurie Garrett, August 23, 2003)
  
• EPA accused of softpedaling 9/11 data ... "EPA officials lied when they initially were telling people that the air was safe," said Democratic Rep. Jerrold Nadler, whose district includes the attack site. "That's an outrage." Nadler suggested that the White House allowed economic concerns, such as the desire to reopen Wall Street, to take precedence over public health. But White House and EPA officials said that in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks they worked together to provide the public with the most responsible advice in an extraordinarily chaotic situation. (Los Angeles Times/The News Tribune, by Elizabeth Shogren, August 23, 2003)
• EPA softened Sept. 11 statements, report finds ... WASHINGTON -- The Environmental Protection Agency's internal watchdog says that White House officials pressured the agency to prematurely assure the public that the air was safe to breathe a week after the World Trade Center collapse. (Boston Globe, By John Heilprin, Associated Press, 8/23/2003)
  
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on the Office of Inspector General (OIG) report, "EPA's Response to the World Trade Center Collapse: Challenges, Successes, and Areas for Improvement," an evaluation of how EPA reacted to the September 11, 2001, collapse of the World Trade Center towers in New York City (PDF file), Supplemental Appendices (Press Release, August 22, 2003)
• White House influenced EPA post-9/11 air quality statements: Internal watchdog says safe air statements were premature ... The EPA inspector general recommends EPA adopt new procedures so its public statements on health risks and environmental quality are supported by data and analysis. Other recommendations include developing better indoor air cleanups and ways of handling asbestos in large-scale disasters. (CNN, August 22, 2003)
• EPA Report Sparks Outrage ... Downtown residents, politicians, doctors and firefighters expressed outrage over Friday's report that the White House had pressured the Environmental Protection Agency to declare it was safe to breathe the air around Ground Zero a week after the Sept. 11, 2001, attack... Also expressing anger over the report was Manhattan Community Board 1 President Madelyn Wils, who has been taking medication for breathing problems since the attack.... "My outrage is consistent with the outrage I felt since 9/11 in regards to the manner the city and EPA have handled air quality," Wils said. She said a May 2003 poll of lower Manhattan residents found that 31 percent still reported pulmonary problems related to Sept. 11. Capt. Peter Gorman, president of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association, said the report should convince Gov. George Pataki to sign pending legislation to provide extended workers' compensation benefits to rescue workers who were exposed to contaminants at the site. "This is the strongest evidence to date that this bill should become law," Gorman said. The measure has been approved by both houses of the Legislature and is awaiting action by the governor. (NY Newsday, by By Pete Bowles, August 22, 2003)
  
• Report: White House Misled City on Post-9/11 Health Issues... In the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center, the White House instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to give the public misleading information, telling New Yorkers it was safe to breathe when reliable information on air quality was not available... In June 2002 the EPA determined that air quality had returned to pre-Sept. 11 levels. Thurston, for one, remains worried about reconstruction of Ground Zero. (NY Newsday, by Laurie Garrett, August 22, 2003)
• Nadler Calls for Federal Investigation of EPA's Dangerous Neglect and Lies Following 9/11: Demands that EPA Initiate Real Clean-up of Contaminants ... EPA Inspector General Report Cites White House's Instructions to Issue Inaccurate Health Reassurances (News Release, August 22, 2003)
• White House Molded EPA's 9/11 Reports ... There is no evidence that airborne asbestos in the World Trade Center area posed a long-term health risk, but no study of the effects on the general public has actually been completed. A Mount Sinai study of rescue and recovery workers found that 78 percent had suffered lung ailments. The report notes that the agency's official position was that the levels of asbestos in outdoor air were safe for healthy adults, but that it lacked evidence about the potential health effects of indoor air and the risks of other contaminants or the effects on more vulnerable New Yorkers, including children and the elderly. (CBS, Aug 22, 2003)
• Clinton Outraged by EPA's Suppression of Information Following World Trade Center Disaster (News Release, August 22, 2003)
• White House swayed EPA after 9/11 ... At the White House's direction, the Environmental Protection Agency gave New Yorkers misleading assurances that there was no health risk from the debris-laden air after the World Trade Center collapse, according to an internal inquiry. (MSNBC/AP, August 22, 2003)
• Residents angry, but not surprised at premature E.P.A. 9/11 air reports ... Downtowners expressed outrage but little surprise last week at the news that the White House allegedly influenced statements the Environmental Protection Agency made soon after the collapse of the World Trade Center about air quality in Lower Manhattan. (Downtown Express, By Elizabeth O'Brien, Aug. 19-Aug. 25, 2003)
• Insurance companies don't want to pay for Deutsche demolition ... Kevin Rampe, president of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp, filed a deposition in State Supreme Court last week supporting Deutsche Bank's lawsuit demanding that two insurance companies declare the bank building just south of the World Trade Center site a total loss. (scroll down for article, Downtown Express, Aug. 19-Aug. 25, 2003)
• ENVIRONMENT: Silver asks L.M.D.C. to look at impacts, at-grade West St... L.M.D.C. should make public the type of air monitoring and the list of substances being monitored during construction.... L.M.D.C. will issue a generic environmental impact statement in the late fall, which will also be subject to a public comment period," she said. (Downtown Express, by Albert Amateau, Aug. 19-Aug. 25, 2003)
• Moms question W.T.C. baby study finding ... Despite research showing a possible link between trade center toxins and lower baby birth weight, several Downtown mothers who participated in a recent study said last week that the preliminary results did not appear to describe them or their babies... "If I had had a low birth-weight baby, I would have freaked out, because no one told me," said Curley, 41, whose son, Carter, was about nine pounds at birth. Golub said that Mount Sinai was barred from releasing the study results, even to participants, until they were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. (Downtown Express, by Elizabeth O'Brien, Aug. 12-Aug. 18, 2003)
  
• EDITORIAL: W.T.C. baby study's findings ... A report by Mount Sinai School of Medicine has found what scientists called a slight but significant rise in the percentage of small babies born to women who were pregnant and around the World Trade Center during or after the 9/11 terror attack. The researchers hypothisized that air pollution from the destruction and burning and smoldering of the World Trade Center was the likeliest cause of the low birth weights, but they admitted more study is required to be conclusive. (Downtown Express, Aug. 12-Aug. 18, 2003)
• Downtowners air views at neighborhood workshop ... Diane Lapson, a tenant leader at Independence Plaza North, urged a study of the continuing environmental effects of the construction. She said that the army of diesel trucks expected when the work picks up would add more pollution to an area still suffering from the terror attacks. 'A lot of people are sick Downtown because of what happened' on 9/11, Lapson said. After 9/11, the Environmental Protection Agency detected elevated levels of asbestos in parts of the I.P.N. complex; some tenants there have complained of respiratory and other ailments since the trade center disaster. (Downtown Express, By Elizabeth O'Brien, Aug. 12-Aug. 18, 2003)
  
• Leaked Report Says EPA Soft-Pedaled 9/11 Health Hazards at Urging of White House (NYCOSH UPDATE, August 18, 2003)
• The toxic fallout of 9/11: Despite early assurances from the Bush administration, new studies are finding alarming health problems and risks related to the cloud of debris that enveloped lower Manhattan... NEW YORK -- For more than a year after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, 200 hazardous-waste workers reported to work every morning inside the Deutsche Bank building in downtown Manhattan. They pulled white Tyvek suits over their street clothes; stretched dual-filtered breathing masks over their faces, and systematically sealed themselves off from their surroundings. The interior was so toxic that they could not enter the building any other way. (Salon.com, by Abrahm Lustgarten, Aug. 15, 2003)
• Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and other semivolatile organic compounds collected in New York City in response to the events of 9/11.... Concentrations of over 60 nonpolar semivolatile and nonvolatile organic compounds were measured in Lower Manhattan, NY, using a high-capacity integrated organic gas and particle sampler after the initial destruction of the World Trade Center (WTC). The results indicate that the remaining air plumes from the disaster site were comprised of many pollutants and classes and represent a complex mixture of biogenic (wood-smoke) and anthropogenic sources. This mixture includes compounds that are typically associated with fossil fuel emissions and their combustion products. The molecular markers for these emissions include the high molecular weight PAHs, the n-alkanes, a Carbon Preference Index approximately 1 (odd carbon:even carbon approximately 1), as well as pristane and phytane as specific markers for fuel oil degradation. These results are not unexpected considering the large number of diesel generators and outsized vehicles used in the removal phases. The resulting air plume would also include emissions of burning and remnant materials from the WTC site. ... (Environ Sci Technol. 2003 Aug 15;37(16):3537-46)
• Keep Questioning: Letter to the Editor by Marjorie J. Clarke ... Are researchers planning to keep following the development of these babies? Birth weight is an interesting factor, but developmental and mental abnormalities - IQ, etc. - are of far more consequence, and this won't be known for a while. (NY Newsday, August 14, 2003; scroll down)
• The Air After 9/11: Letter to the Editor ... After Sept. 11, assurances that downtown air was safe to breathe, and the Environmental Protection Agency's failure to specify the need for indoor cleanup, made it impossible for families like my own to collect on our tenant insurance policies (which would have paid for temporary living accommodations and asbestos abatement). My family and neighbors paid for testing of our own homes in the months after 9/11. The Federal Emergency Management Agency refused to help, and even charities resisted providing help that might have contradicted official E.P.A. claims that downtown was safe. (NYTimes, August 13, 2003, free registration)
• Deutsche Bank Files Ground Zero Suit ... Deutsche Bank filed a lawsuit yesterday to try to force two European insurance companies to pay for the demolition of its badly damaged office tower near Ground Zero, calling it an "unfortunate remnant of a national tragedy." The insurance companies, Allianz of Germany and AXA of France, have argued that the 41-story building was not so badly damaged in the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center that it could not be repaired. The 29-year-old building at 130 Liberty St. suffered a 15-story gash in its facade when the Twin Towers collapsed barely 150 feet away. The bank building, exposed to the elements, became infected with mold. The bank stated in a lawsuit filed in state Supreme Court in Manhattan that tornado-force winds from the fallen 110-story towers distributed asbestos and other contaminants throughout the building, making it impossible to safely repair. Additional dust entering the building during the cleanup of Ground Zero also deposited asbestos, lead, mercury, PCBs and other contaminants throughout the structure, it said. The bank said it spent $33 million over 10 months studying structural and contamination issues before deciding the building had to be razed. (NY Newsday/AP, August 12, 2003)
• White House Pressured EPA Not To Warn Public About Health Effects of 9/11 ... New yet-to-be-released report from the EPA's inspector criticizes the White House for ordering the deletion of information warning downtown New York residents about possible health effects and preventing the release on information on how the public should clean contaminated apartments.(Democracy Now, August 12th, 2003)
  
• Feds Launch Long-Term Studies ... Long-term studies to monitor the health effects of the World Trade Center attacks on New Yorkers are getting under way. A 20-year study conducted by the city Department of Health and the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry will begin in September or soon after to identify patterns of physical and psychological illness attributable to 9/11. (NYPost, by Sam Smith, August 10, 2003)
  
• Insurers Block Plans to Raze Deutsche Bank ... Plans to tear down the Deutsche Bank building at the foot of the World Trade Center site are being blocked by two insurance companies arguing that the 40-story skyscraper can be repaired and reoccupied, a position that threatens to complicate the redevelopment of ground zero.... But Deutsche Bank has said that the main reason the building could not be reoccupied was because of contamination from dust spiked with asbestos and other contaminants. It wrote in its claim that the building was subject to tornado-force winds, earthquake-like shaking and pressure waves that forced dust into "every crack and crevice" in the building.... Mr. Zweig and others said potential contamination could prove a problem, not only for reoccupation but also for taking the building down. Neighbors of the building, who fled after the disaster and have in many cases only recently returned home, are of mixed minds about taking it down. Some want to see it leveled, while others are concerned about the noise and danger associated with the demolition. "There are concerns over the environmental impact," said Paul Goldstein, district manager of Community Board 1, which represents Lower Manhattan...(NYTimes, by Michael Slackman, August 9, 2003, need to register)
• Report shows White House influence in EPA 9/11 air quality statements ... A probe by the Environmental Protection Agency's inspector general reportedly found that White House officials told the EPA to reassure the public in statements about air quality in lower Manhattan after the attack on the World Trade Center. (New York Times/AP, August 09, 2003)
  
• Pollution particles found to have large impact on infant health ... Tiny particles in the air probably have a greater impact on infant health than has previously been realized, according to new research published by a University of Chicago economist specializing in environmental regulation and his colleague at the University of California, Berkeley. (University of Chicago News, August 7, 2003)
• Post office says Downtown return will be quiet ... "I miss that post office a lot," said Catherine Hughes, who lives a few blocks away, adding, "My concern is the cumulative impact" of the construction "because people live here and work here 24 hours a day." (Downtown Express, by Elizabeth O'Brien, Aug. 5-Aug. 11, 2003)
  
• TOXIC FALLOUT SLASHED INFANTS' BIRTH WEIGHT ... Pregnant women who were exposed to the toxic plume from the World Trade Center collapse were twice as likely to have much smaller babies than other new moms, researchers said yesterday.(NYPost, by William Neuman, August 6, 2003)
• Smaller Babies Tied To Sept. 11 ... Doctors theorize the debris limited the amount of blood available through the placenta, which feeds oxygen and nutrients through the umbilical cord, the unborn's lifeline in the womb. "Our best guess is that women who were exposed to overly large quantities of soot on 9/11, and the succeeding days, developed the same problem you see in women who smoke during pregnancy," said Dr. Philip Landrigan, chairman of community and preventive medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. "You also see this type of growth restriction in babies born in areas with high levels of air pollution." Landrigan, a member of the research team, said even though exposure to the debris was short-lived when compared with women who smoke or breathe pollutants for nine months, the concentrated level of 9/11 contaminants was unusually high. "The cement dust alone," he said, "contained billions and billions of microscopic shards of glass." (NY Daily News, By Delthia Ricks, August 6, 2003)
  
• Smoke and Dust at World Trade Center Is Linked to Smaller Babies (NYTimes, By Andrew C. Revkin, August 6, 2003)
• Did WTC Pollution Result In Smaller Babies? ... Air pollution from the World Trade Center attacks may have resulted in smaller babies among pregnant mothers who were in or near the collapsing towers, preliminary research suggests. Exposed pregnant women in the study faced double the risk of delivering babies who were up to about a half-pound smaller than babies born to non-exposed women. The size differences among babies born to women exposed to dirt and soot from the attacks suggest a condition called intrauterine growth restriction, or IUGR, which has been linked with exposure to air pollution. (Aug 5, 2003, 1010 WINS)
  
• Air pollution from WTC attacks may have hurt babies ... Air pollution from the World Trade Center collapse may have resulted in smaller babies among mothers who were pregnant in or near the collapsing towers, preliminary research suggests. (AP/NYDaily News, August 5, 2003)
  
• W.T.C. plan needs changes, many say ... Hughes said the E.I.S. should take into consideration all of the proposed demolition and construction projects near the site, including the expected demolition of the Deutsche and Fiterman buildings. In addition, Hughes said the Post Office is expected to reroute all of the trucks it sends to the Farley postal center near 34th St. to Lower Manhattan while Farley is renovated as part of the plan to redesign Penn Station. (Downtown Express, By Josh Rogers, July 29- Aug. 4, 2003)
  

JULY

• Future of BMCC’s Fiterman Hall still uncertain ... But the building’s fate remained ensnarled in negotiations over who will pay how much for the damage, and whether the building, at 30 West Broadway, is salvageable. So far, the New York State Dormitory Authority, which owns the building, has not received a dime from its insurance company, FM Global, or the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for the damage. (FM Global did pay $12.5 million for temporary classrooms and other 9/11-related expenses.) ... (Tribeca Trib, by Ronald Drenger, July 2003)
  
• Health effects and occupational exposures among office workers near the World Trade Center disaster site... There is no evidence of ongoing hazardous exposure to airborne contaminants among the workers surveyed. Specific causes of reported constitutional health symptoms have not been determined. (J Occup Environ Med. 2002 Jul;44(7):601-5.)
• Deadlines Draw Near for Filing Ground Zero-related Compensation Claims ... Anyone who sustained an injury or an illness while working or volunteering in the vicinity of Ground Zero since September 11, 2001, needs to know that deadlines to file for compensation are approaching, including, for some cases, a deadline of September 11, 2003. Workers and volunteers who have symptoms of illness, such as a persistent cough or extreme anxiety may also be eligible for compensation. (NYCOSH UPDATE, July 29, 2003)
• W.T.C. plans: Downtown Local ... On the afternoon and evening of Wednesday, July 23, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation will hold a public scoping meeting on the Environmental Impact Statement for the World Trade Center redevelopment plan. (Downtown Express, July 15- July 21, 2003)
• 9/11 reporters: Downtown Local ... They rushed to the scene on Sept. 11, 2001, witnessed the horrors, inhaled the dust, and then returned, day after day, to ground zero. But reporters have received comparatively little acknowledgement of the dangers they faced as a result of covering the calamity. While many journalist 'first responders' say they have suffered the same mental and physical health consequences as emergency rescue and volunteer personnel, they often got less support from their employers. (Downtown Express, July 15- July 21, 2003)
• WTC Plans Draw Concerns ... Plans for rebuilding at the World Trade Center site drew an array of concerns Wednesday ... Experts, planners and concerned residents gave their response to a draft environmental impact statement by the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. detailing how the designs created by Daniel Liebeskind might impact the area's environment, including noise control, traffic patterns and air quality... One woman brought in a filter from her apartment to show how much dust was being kicked up from the construction. (NYNewsday, by Matt Donnelly, July 23, 2003)
• Medical Surveillance of Rescue Dogs Deployed in 9/11 Disaster Unfolds at AVMA Meeting ... "We hypothesized that there would be an increased incidence of cancer, pulmonary disease and hematologic or biochemical changes associated with toxic exposure," said Dr. Otto, who was present at Ground Zero for nine days taking care of the dogs. Not only were dangerous chemicals present at the sites, others were produced by blazing fires and high temperatures. And yet, blood samples and chest radiographs revealed nothing remarkable in the first follow-up year. (July 19, 2003)
  
• For full PACE survey: http://appserv.pace.edu/emplibrary/FullReport072903.pdf
• Comments on the EPA Office of Inspector General's 1/27/03 interim report titled: "EPA's Response to the World Trade Center Towers Collapse" - A Documentary Basis for Litigation, by Environmental Scientist Cate Jenkins, EPA Waste Identification Branch, Hazardous Waste Identification Division (July 4, 2003)
• Lawsuits By Members Of Uniformed Services Skyrocketed After 9/11 ... Although the total number of claims has decreased over the past year, the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks have triggered a flood of legal claims by workers against the city, according to a report released by City Comptroller Bill Thompson Tuesday... However, the report shows that in the fiscal year 2001, only 171 members of the uniformed services sued the city. In the fiscal year 2002, which ended Monday, the number of lawsuits ballooned to 1,194... By far, most of the lawsuits are being filed by firefighters, many of whom are seeking compensation from the city for illnesses suffered after work at the World Trade Center site... "Because of the time that was spent over at Ground Zero and the work that was done, there are a number of people that are saying they are suffering, whether it's respiratory problems or other problems, as an after-effect of the work that was done there and what they felt was inadequate equipment that didn't protect them fully," said Thompson... (NY1, July 1, 2003)
• Firefighter Claims Are Up ... Firefighter claims against the city increased more than 20-fold last year due to the World Trade Center disaster (NY Newsday, By Katia Hetter, July 1, 2003)

JUNE

• World trade center fine particulate matter--chemistry and toxic respiratory effects: an overview... Unfortunately, on the day of the disaster, no air-sampling monitors were operating close to the WTC site to characterize and quantify pollutants in the dust cloud. However, analysis of fallen dust samples collected 5 and 6 days after the attack showed that 1-4% by weight consisted of particles small enough to be respirable (Lioy et al. 2002). These particles included fine particulate matter, or PM(subscript)2.5(/subscript) [PM < 2.5 micro m mass median aerodynamic diameter (MMAD)], which can be inhaled deep into the lung and is associated with cardiovascular and respiratory health effects. (Environ Health Perspect. 2003 Jun;111(7):971.)
  
• World Trade Center fine particulate matter causes respiratory tract hyperresponsiveness in mice... We conclude that a high-level exposure to WTC PM2.5 could cause pulmonary inflammation and airway hyperresponsiveness in people. The effects of chronic exposures to lower levels of WTC PM2.5, the persistence of any respiratory effects, and the effects of coarser WTC PM are unknown and were not examined in these studies (Environ Health Perspect. 2003 Jun;111(7):981-91.)
• State to begin compensation for 9-11 volunteer rescuers ... ALBANY -- After months of political wrangling, New York state is moving ahead with compensation for sick and injured volunteers who searched the World Trade Center rubble for victims' remains after the 2001 terrorist attacks. About 40,000 workers took part in the rescue, recovery and cleanup efforts at the site after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks killed nearly 3,000 people. So far, the state board has received less than 20 claims ... (The Ithaca Journal, The Associated Press, June 30, 2003)
• NY To Process WTC Sick Claims ... ALBANY, N.Y. -- After months of political wrangling, New York state is moving ahead with compensation for sick and injured volunteers who searched the World Trade Center rubble for victims' remains after the 2001 terrorist attacks... Last year, Congress secured $175 million in emergency money to pay for workers' compensation costs, $25 million of which were allotted for volunteers who would, under normal circumstances, be ineligible for the benefits. A memo by congressional researchers earlier this month concluded that the state's workers' compensation law suggests that most federal funds cannot be used for volunteers. To date, the state spent only $44 million of the entire money, which was received this past February, and none of the money for volunteers had yet been used. (NY Newsday/AP, Alicia Chang, June 28, 2003)
• Gov pushes for release of aid to WTC vols ... Ailing Ground Zero volunteers denied medical coverage and financial aid from the state should be getting help soon. (NYDaily News, by Greg Gittrich, June 26, 2003)
• NYC Will Raze Tower Damaged on 9/11 ... NEW YORK, A 40-story office tower damaged in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center is expected to be demolished as early as next month ... (Associated Press, Justin Glanville, 06-20-03)
  
• Battered Deutsche Bank Building to be Demolished ... The battered and disfigured Deutsche Bank building in Lower Manhattan, among the last remaining buildings damaged in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack whose fate has not been decided, has been deemed beyond repair and is expected to be taken down beginning next month, according to people involved in negotiations on its future. (New York Times, Jun 20, 2003; free password required)
• $90M in WTC aid on hold: Feds delay money for worker health screenings ... Some $90 million in disaster aid earmarked for monitoring the health of Ground Zero workers is being held up by federal officials, the Daily News has learned. Congress signed off on the money in February after months of partisan sparring between President Bush and Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.). (NY Daily News, by Greg Gittrich, June 10, 2003)
• State stiffs WTC angels ... Volunteers denied millions for wages, medical bills ... The failing health of Judy Wolff is well-documented. She suffers from chest pains, shortness of breath and a weakened immune system. She has battled pneumonia repeatedly. The moment the 46-year-old Wisconsin mom began feeling ill also is not in dispute. It was three days before she returned home from volunteering at Ground Zero. (NY Daily News, by Greg Gittrich, June 9, 2003)
• Whitman resigns (Downtown Express, May 27-June2, 2003)
• Downtown favors West St. tunnel, poll says ... Thirty percent of the respondents who lived Downtown before 9/11 said someone in their household suffers from coughing, respiratory problems, or some other ailment which they believe to have been caused by the W.T.C. debris. As for new residents, 25 percent answered yes to this question...(Downtown Express, By Josh Rogers, May 27, June 2, 2003)

MAY

• 9/11 haunts heroes: Physical, mental trauma surfacing ... But in January, Quick - a veteran of rescue and specialty squads - learned he had lost 30% of his lung capacity working at Ground Zero.(NY Daily News, by Michele McPhee and Patrice O'Shaughnessy, May 25, 2003)
• Allard's EPA ombudsman bill backed ... The Colorado Republican's bill, creating an independent ombudsman in the Environmental Protection Agency, was approved unanimously in the Senate. It now goes to the House, where it is backed by Colorado's delegation. (Rocky Mountain News, By Berny Morson, May 23, 2003)
• Rep. Nadler Offers Assessment of Federal Response to 9.11 in Front of National Commission (News Release, May 22, 2003)
• Hollis clinic hosting study of Ground Zero workers ... Richmond Hill resident Dave Ramdass performs a breathing test at Hillside Manor Comprehensive Care Center as part of the physical screening of workers who helped clear Ground Zero. A Hollis medical facility is working with Mount Sinai Medical Center in Manhattan to chart the health concerns of demolition workers who helped clear debris from Ground Zero (TimesLedger, By Courtney Dentch, 05/22/2003)
• Rep. Nadler OMments on EOA ADministrator Whitman's Departure: Calls on Next Administrator to Immediately Undertake Proper WTC Cleanup (News Release, May 22, 2003)
  
• Construction dust (Letter to the Editor: Downtown Express, May 20-26, 2003)
• E.P.A. says I.P.N. stairwells are safe ... The stairwells of 310 Greenwich St. received a clean bill of health from the Environmental Protection Agency last week, the outcome of the third round of tests they underwent as part of the agency's Lower Manhattan cleanup. (Downtown Express, May 20-26, 2003, By Elizabeth O'Brien)
• EPA chief Whitman submits resignation letter: Cites desire to spend time with family ... She had been the administration's point person in rolling back environmental protections initiated by previous administrations.(CNN, May 21, 2003)
  
• EPA dedicates $23 million lab in KCK ... The facility is the only EPA lab with the ability to test air samples for low levels of dioxin and furan, a compound similar to dioxin. That distinction made the center, even before its move to the new building, the place federal officials turned for testing about 150 air samples collected during the World Trade Center cleanup. (The Topeka Capital-Journal, May 20, 2003)
• WTC Residents Respiratory WTC Residents Respiratory Health Study ... (presentation)
• Asbestos risks: Letters to the editor (Downtown Express, May 13-19, 2003)
• Asbestos found in I.P.N., after E.P.A. cleanup ... Lori Mogol and Richard Zimbler watched from their balcony at Independence Plaza North as ground zero was cleaned ahead of schedule. But almost a year after the last of the debris was hauled away, the couple's home has still has not been cleared of toxins that likely resulted from the collapse of the World Trade Center. (Downtown Express, by Elizabeth O'Brien, May 6-12, 2003)
• Sept. 11 Health Fears for Cops ... Almost 20 months after the attack on the World Trade Center, a number of police officers who worked at Ground Zero are still experiencing respiratory problems, according to a study conducted by a Brooklyn pulmonary physician. "They continue to have respiratory symptoms such as coughing and wheezing and a reduction of lung function that the normal individual would not have," ... (NY Newsday, By Pete Bowles, May 3, 2003)
• Ground Zero Ailments Linger On ... Almost 20 months after the attack on the World Trade Center, a number of police officers who worked at Ground Zero are still experiencing respiratory problems, according to a study conducted by a Brooklyn pulmonary physician. "They continue to have respiratory symptoms such as coughing and wheezing and a reduction of lung function that the normal individual would not have," said Dr. Walfred Leon of SUNY Downstate Medical Center. "The symptoms may be less now than when we started, but they still have them." In his study, which was funded by the Patrolman's Benevolent Association, Leon examined 82 officers who worked at or near Ground Zero between Sept. 11 and Oct. 31, 2001. (NY Newsday, By Pete Bowles, May 2, 2003)

APRIL

• NYCOSH testimony: Workers Memorial Day, 2003
• EPA's Earth Day Sham: Earth Day New York/Natural Resources Defense Council's 2003 "Public Official of the Year" takes on Whitman upon her visit to New York City to promote Administration Policies ... NEGLECT OF ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS CAUSED BY COLLAPSE OF THE WORLD TRADE CENTER -- Under Administrator Whitman, the EPA bucked its responsibility under Federal law to clean up interior spaces of New York City that were -- and continue to be -- contaminated with hazardous materials released by the collapse of the World Trade Center.(News Release, April 22, 2003)
  
• Dangerous lead was found in some apartments ... They had already decided to leave when they found out something that strengthened their resolve: they had elevated levels of lead in their apartment at 22 River Terrace, according to the results of an in-depth testing and cleaning of their apartment by the Environmental Protection Agency. (Downtown Express, by Elizabeth O'Brien April 15, 2003)
• Worker Files $20 Mil Lawsuit Against PA, Police ... A city employee who worked at ground zero filed a $20 million lawsuit against the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and five police officers Friday, saying they beat him up when they were asked to wear safety equipment. (1010 WINS, Apr 12, 2003)
• Groups Unveil New York's "Dirty Dozen" Polluters: Winners include Companies, State, Agencies, Government Officials ... Environmental Protection Agency Region 2 and NYC Department of Education (Citizens' Environmental Coalition, April 3, 2003)
  
• NYC Mayor Warns WTC Liability Suits Could Bankrupt City ... New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told the committee investigating the Sept. 11 attacks that personal injury lawsuits against the city by persons claiming they've suffered long-term health damage as a result of the attacks and the subsequent clean-up activities could eventually bankrupt the city. (Insurance Journal, April 2, 2003)
  
• Deutsche safe, city says ... The potentially dangerous mold that was growing in the Deutsche Building on Liberty St. has been removed, a city Health Dept. official told Community Board 1 recently. Christopher D'Andrea, the industrial scientist who edited the city's mold guidelines, said he found no evidence of dangerous mold when he expected the building earlier this year. "I wouldn't think the building would pose a health problem as far as mold," he said. (Downtown Express, April 01, 2003)
  

MARCH

• WTC personal injury suits could bankrupt NYC--mayor ... New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Monday warned that personal injury lawsuits filed by people who claim their long-term health was damaged by the clean-up of the World Trade Center site could bankrupt the city in the next 20 years.(Reuters, 03.31.03)
• Internal EPA Document Reveals Agency Shortcomings in Lower Manhattan ... An official internal investigation has sharply called into question the Environmental Protection Agency's actions concerning the safety of Lower Manhattan air in the aftermath of the attack on the World Trade Center. In a 4-page document that was leaked to reporters and health and safety advocates, the EPA Office of the Inspector General outlines numerous EPA failures to carry out established policies and operating procedures, all having the effect of minimizing EPA interventions that could have warned or protected the public. (NYCOSH UPDATE March 28, 2003)
  
• Group Of Cops Assigned To Sift Trade Center Debris Sue NYC ... Five police officers who claim they breathed in toxic dust while sorting through World Trade Center debris at Fresh Kills landfill are suing New York City for $8 million each. Their suit accuses the city of failing to protect them and educate them about the dangers of handling toxic materials. The officers say they have developed respiratory illnesses and have sustained permanent damage to their health. (New York-AP, March 28, 2003)
  
• Uncovering the Health Effects of Post-9/11 (Nursing Spectrum, by Carol Dunbar, March 24, 2003)
• Interim Report Criticizes Assurances by EPA on World Trade Center Air Quality ... The status report by an team looking into EPA's response to the Sept. 11, 2001, disaster appeared to underscore criticisms leveled against the agency for more than a year by environmental and public health groups. The status report, which is dated Jan. 27 and was made available by EPA critics including Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), also contains new information suggesting that the White House Council on Environmental Quality "heavily influenced" EPA public statements on the air quality around the World Trade Center site. (BNA Daily Environment Report, By John Herzfeld, March 20, 2003)
  
• Report disputes E.P.A. on initial 9/11 claim ... The air close to ground zero after the Sept. 11 attacks may not have been as safe to breathe as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency indicated one week after the attack, an independent federal study has determined. Preliminary findings by the E.P.A.'s Office of Inspector General show that the E.P.A. did not have enough data to declare the air around ground zero safe to breathe in the days after the attack. In addition, to assess air-quality concerns, the E.P.A. used a cancer risk level 100 times greater than its normal standards for public exposure. (Downtown Express, March 18, 2003)
• EPA ripped on its 9/11 all clear ... The Environmental Protection Agency failed to gather sufficient evidence before declaring the air around Ground Zero "safe to breathe" in the days after the collapse of the twin towers, federal documents reveal... The confidential documents, obtained by the Daily News, also say the EPA did not address short-term health concerns - and had no data on more than half of the pollutants that scientists believe were thrown into the air by the towers' collapse. (NYDaily News, by Greg Gittrich, March 18, 2003)
  
• NEW ALARM ON WTC AIR SAFETY ... Ground Zero tests by the EPA in the days immediately after the World Trade Center collapse did not support the agency's own statements that the air around the site was safe to breathe, according to a federal report. (NYPost, March 18, 2003)
  
• IG memo faults EPA's reporting of air quality ... The Environmental Protection Agency did not have sufficient data to declare air quality surrounding the World Trade Center "safe to breath" following the September 11 terrorist attacks, according to a government memo. (The Washington Times, By Audrey Hudson, March 18, 2003)
  
• Newspaper: Draft EPA report questions Ground Zero air quality ... (AP) -- Ground Zero tests by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the days immediately after the World Trade Center collapse did not support the agency's own statements the air around the site was safe to breathe, a newspaper reported. (CNN, March 17, 2003)
  
• EPA's 'Safe Air' Statements After 9/11 Criticized ... NEW YORK, An internal agency report is criticizing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for calling the air at Ground Zero "safe to breathe" during the days immediately following the attack on the World Trade Center. (Reuters Health, By Keith Mulvihill, March 17, 2003)
  
• EPA's 'Safe Air' Statements After 9/11 Criticized ... NEW YORK - An internal agency report is criticizing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for calling the air at Ground Zero "safe to breathe" during ... The EPA did not have "sufficient data" to make this statement, the agency's Office of Inspector General (OIG) states in a preliminary report that has been leaked to the press. The OIG is an independent government group that reports directly to Congress. A timeline within the draft, which was first reported on Sunday by the Sacramento Bee newspaper, indicates that a final draft may be released at the end of the month... (Reuters Health, By Keith Mulvihill, Mar 17, 2003)
• 9/11 air assurances disputed: A draft report says EPA erred in saying breathing at Ground Zero was safe ... The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's pollution tests in the smoke-filled days following the World Trade Center collapse did not support the agency's pronouncements that the air around Ground Zero was safe to breathe, an independent federal investigation has found. Further, the EPA reached its conclusion using a cancer risk level 100 times greater than what it traditionally deems "acceptable" for public exposure to toxic air contaminants, according to the EPA's Office of Inspector General... "To say that it's safe, which suggests no risk -- we just knew that was wrong," said Jonathan Bennett, spokesman for the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health, a labor union advocacy group, which had doctors in a roving van seeing cleanup workers. (The Sacramento Bee, By Chris Bowman and Edie Lau, March 16, 2003)
  
• 9/11 suits could cost $12 billion ... NEW YORK CITY, A lawyer for the city estimated that Sept. 11-related lawsuits brought by firefighters could cost up to $12 billion. The city's Law Department has set up a special World Trade Center defense unit of 21 lawyers to handle 1,700 cases stemming from the attack on the World Trade Center, Michael A. Cardozo, the city's corporation counsel, said at a City Hall budget hearing Friday. (Associated Press, March 16, 2003)
  
• 9/11 Claims by Firefighters Could Cost $12 Billion ... Michael A. Cardozo, the city's corporation counsel, said yesterday that New York City could end up paying at least $12 billion to more than a thousand firefighters who have filed Sept. 11-related lawsuits. Testifying at a City Hall budget hearing, Mr. Cardozo said the Law Department has had to set up a special World Trade Center defense unit as it prepares to fight 1,700 post-9/11 cases. (NYTimes, by Nichole M. Christian, March 15, 2003, need to registrer)
• Firefighters' 9/11 Claims Could Cost City $12 Billion ... A lawyer for the city estimated that Sept. 11-related lawsuits brought by firefighters could cost up to $12 billion. As a result, the city's Law Department has set up a special World Trade Center defense unit. Twenty-one lawyers will handle the 1,700 cases stemming from the attack on the World Trade Center. (New York-AP, March 15, 2003)
• Feds brush off FDNY plea for toxic cleanup ... Federal environmental officials are refusing to scrub potentially toxic dust out of firehouses near Ground Zero - saying they agreed to clean up only apartments, not workplaces. The city firefighters union said the Environmental Protection Agency has repeatedly turned down requests to clean four firehouses south of Canal St. "Firefighters should be entitled to the same protections that the EPA has afforded everyone who lives in lower Manhattan," said Philip McArdle, Uniformed Firefighters Association health and safety officer. But a top EPA official would not reconsider the policy when confronted yesterday by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan). (Daily News, By Greg Gittrich, March 12, 2003)
• Feds Won't Clean WTC Fallout From City Firehouses ... Gritty dust from the collapse of the World Trade Center towers still lines the crevices, corners and cracks in lower Manhattan firehouses that federal environmental officials refuse to include in their cleanup program. The Environmental Protection Agency has been scrubbing apartments of downtown residents who signed up for the free service but won't send crews to the four firehouses in the area, firefighters and union officials said Wednesday. The EPA maintains that firehouses aren't covered because they aren't residences. (1010 WINS, Mar 12, 2003)
  
• No Fed Cleanup Of WTC Debris At Firehouses ... The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced plans in May, 2002, to clean and test downtown residences for a broad array of hazardous toxins, including asbestos, left in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The city firefighters union, citing health concerns among its members, has unsuccessfully lobbied to have four firehouses in lower Manhattan cleaned ....(1010 WINS, Mar 12, 2003)
  
• Report on the Expert Panel on Health Effects of Asbestos and Synthetic Vitreous Fibers: The Influence of Fiber Length; Prepared for: Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, Division of Health Assessment and Consultation, Atlanta, GA; Prepared by: Eastern Research Group, Inc., 110 Hartwell Avenue, Lexington , MA 02421 (March 17, 2003)
  
• Health problems plague Ground Zero workers ... Nearly 18 months after the World Trade Center collapsed in a rain of dust, Frank Noviello still feels the aftereffects. The construction foreman toiled for months in a choking haze of smoldering debris to help clear the wreckage. Today, he worries about the toll that cleanup has taken on his emotional and physical health. (USA TODAY, By Stephanie Armour, Updated 3/4/2003 )
  

FEBRUARY

• BLDG. REPAIRS TO START NEAR WTC ... Repair work will start soon to fix a jagged gash across the front of the mold-infested Deutsche Bank building, but the company said no final decision has been made about what to do with the black-draped structure that looms over Ground Zero.(NYPOST, by William Newman, February 25, 2003)
  
• PERSISTENT HYPERREACTIVITY AND REACTIVE AIRWAYS DYSFUNCTION IN WORLD TRADE CENTER FIREFIGHTERS. ...We estimate that approximately 100-1000 tons of sigma37-PAHs were spread over a localized area immediately after the WTC disaster on September 11. (Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2003 Feb 25; Banauch GI, Alleyne D, Sanchez R, Olender K, Cohen HW, Weiden M, Kelly KJ, Prezant DJ.)
  
• Potential Exposures to Airborne and Settled Surface Dust in Residential Areas of Lower Manhattan Following the Collapse of the World Trade Center --- New York City, November 4--December 11, 2001 ... Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, which destroyed the World Trade Center (WTC) in lower Manhattan, the New York City (NYC) Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), with assistance from the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) Commissioned Corps Readiness Force and the WTC Environmental Assessment Working Group, assessed the composition of outdoor and indoor settled surface and airborne dust in residential areas around the WTC and in comparison areas. This report summarizes the results of the investigation, which found 1) similar levels of airborne total fibers in lower and in upper Manhattan, 2) greater percentage levels of synthetic vitreous fibers (SVF) and mineral components of concrete and building wallboard in settled dust of residential areas in lower Manhattan than in upper Manhattan, and 3) low levels of asbestos in some settled surface dust in lower Manhattan residential areas (1). Based in part on the results of this investigation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is cleaning and sampling residential areas as requested by lower Manhattan residents... (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, February 21, 2003 / 52(07);131-136)
• Thousands Of Claims For WTC Aid Are Fraudulent, FEMA Says ... A program to help New Yorkers recover from exposure to debris from the World Trade Center attack has turned into a gold mine for con artists. (NY1, February 20, 2003)
  
• A Veteran Rabble-Rouser Kicks Up Dust at the EPA: Hugh Kaufman, as Volunteer Investigator, Says the Air Quality at Ground Zero Is Suspect (FacesForward, by Eli Kintisch, February 15, 2002)
• Continuing questions about W.T.C. cleanup ... Almost a year and a half after the World Trade Center disaster, the Environmental Protection Agency still has not acted to safeguard the health of workers in Lower Manhattan, U.S. Rep Jerrold Nadler said on Monday at a City Hall news conference... A spokesperson for the D.E.P. said that the agency is responsible for investigating the presence of asbestos only, according to the city's administrative code. Charles Sturcken, the spokesperson, said that the response rate for the D.E.P.'s letter to building managers and owners was closer to 33 percent: as of Monday, the agency has collected 336 responses out of just 1,000 letters, he said. The D.E.P. also supervised the cleaning of building exteriors... Nadler said that he was investigating what kind of legal recourse might be available if the E.P.A. does not respond to his call for action. (Downtown Express, By Elizabeth O'Brien February 12, 2003)
• Emergency Response: Nadler Says Workplaces Neglected In World Trade Center Dust Cleanup (BNA Daily Environment Report, By John Herzfeld, February 11, 2003)
• Congressional Leaders Agree to Release $1B In Aid for NYC, State ... The new language also directs FEMA to use $90 million of previously approved funds to pay for long-term medical monitoring of Ground Zero workers, including firefighters and police officers. (NY Newsday, February 11, 2003)
• $90M victory for Ground Zero workers ... Millions of dollars in federal aid to monitor the long-term health of Ground Zero workers is expected to be approved this week - after being tied up for months by partisan sparring. Congressional leaders and the White House inserted the $90 million yesterday into the 2003 omnibus spending package. The deal was reached after intense lobbying by New York Democrats Sen. Hillary Clinton and Rep. Carolyn Maloney. (NY Daily News, February 11, 2003)
• Richard Lindquist v. City of Jersey City Fire Department (A-84-01) (Argued September 23, 2002 -- Decided February 11, 2003)
• Lawmaker: World Trade Center Cleanup Bungled ... Nadler, who was joined by environmental advocates at a news conference on the steps of City Hall, said that as of last month, the DEP only had cleanup data from 218 out of approximately 1,900 buildings below Canal Street. He said some downtown buildings still contain unacceptably high levels of asbestos 17 months after the Sept. 11 attack. "The EPA must end its stonewalling and finally carry out its legal and moral responsibility to clean up all buildings contaminated in the terrorist attack," he said. (1010 Wins, February 10, 2003)
• Nadler Says WTC Cleanup Bungled ... Hundreds of downtown buildings were never adequately cleaned of World Trade Center debris because of bungling by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Rep. Jerrold Nadler charged Monday. "This is an outrageous story of EPA inaction, buck-passing, cover-up and criminal negligence of its role in protecting public health," Nadler said. (NY Newsday, February 10, 2003)
• NYC Workforce May Face Serious Health Risk ... Rep. Nadler Exposes Bungling of World Trade Center Contaminant Clean-up in Workspaces, Presents New Evidence That EPA Illegally Delegated Authority and Then Lied about Knowledge of the Law (News Release, February 10, 2003)

JANUARY

• Granulomatous pneumonitis following exposure to the World Trade Center collapse....We describe a 37-year-old male engineer who presented with cough and dyspnea 3 weeks after exposure to dust resulting from the collapse of the World Trade Center (WTC). Radiographs of the chest and high-resolution CT demonstrated diffuse miliary nodularity. Lung biopsy specimens confirmed the presence of diffuse, noncaseating granulomatous nodules. Scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive radiograph analysis revealed large quantities of silicates. Cellular immunologic studies showed normal response to beryllium, and results of Kveim testing were negative. We suspect that exposure to one or more materials resulting from the WTC catastrophe may be implicated in the development of granulomatous pulmonary disease. (Chest 2003 Jan;123(1):301-4; Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA; Safirstein BH, Klukowicz A, Miller R, Teirstein A.)
• Research Highlights: 9/11 Aftermath: A Clinical Look at the Rescuers... Even if they did not develop the cough, early responders were at high risk of developing another respiratory condition, known as bronchial hyperreactivity, marked by inflammation and reduced lung function. Among the cough-free cohort, nearly one-fourth of the high-exposure group suffered from the condition, as did only 8 percent of those who had moderate exposure. "One surprising finding is that some people can develop long-term problems after only a short-term exposure to contaminants, while others seem to recover more quickly," ... (National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), National Institutes of Health, January 2003)
• EPA Still Cleaning Dust And Debris From Apartments Near WTC ... Many of the apartments in the vicinity of the World Trade Center were polluted by dust and debris in the days following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. One of NY1's employees live in one such building, and she's allowed NY1 to come along as the EPA cleans her place from top to bottom. NY1's Amanda Farinacci has this special report. Sixteen months have passed since the September 11 terrorist attacks, and Lower Manhattan residents like Melissa Rabinovich are still living with uncertainties about air quality. (NY1, January 31, 2003)
• CDC Releases Most Extensive Assessment Ever of Americans' Exposure to Environmental Chemicals (CDC News Release, January 31, 2003)
• PUBLIC LIVES: A Blue Collar Doctor Tracks Ground Zero Workers ... High-profile healers don't opt to practice occupational medicine: it's a blue collar science, dominated by asbestos and asthma and lead poisoning. Only a fellow fixated on being a doctor since he was 6 but captivated in the 60's by the effect one's station in life has on one's health would willingly veer off the beaten path -- a surgery internship at Bellevue and a psychiatry residency at St. Luke's -- into this branch of medicine. (NYTimes - requires registration that is free, By Robin Finn, January 31, 2003)
• Money Now For Ground Zero Workers ... In the days and weeks and months following the terrorist attacks on September 11th, many people felt a renewed patriotism, while New Yorkers and non-New Yorkers alike expressed a new love for this city. Our political leaders spoke in grand terms about exacting revenge on the perpetrators of the destruction, and promised to bring help to those who lost loved ones. They also promised to fund a long-term health monitoring program for the people who worked at Ground Zero, an area filled with dangerous toxins. Unfortunately, as America continues to move closer toward waging war on Iraq, a country President Bush has implicated as supporting terrorism in the "axis of evil" network, less is heard, and more distressingly, less is being done to help the workers from Ground Zero who still clearly need help. Specifically, $90 million in federal aid that was supposed to be used to evaluate the health of the workers has still not been delivered. (Queens Chronicle, January 30, 2003)
• Twin towers left ash 'footprint' in river ... The area around the Twin Towers was full of dust after 11 September. When the twin towers collapsed on 11 September, it left a permanent 'footprint' behind. A layer of ash and dust from the buildings has settled on the nearby Hudson River in New York. (BBC, 29 January 2003)
• Study: Health effects linger for Ground Zero workers ...Nearly three out of every four workers who participated in rescue and recovery efforts at the site of the collapsed World Trade Center towers have experienced some health problems, a federally funded study found. (CNN, 1/28/03)
• Ground Zero Workers Suffering ... NEW YORK, About 30,000 people worked at the Ground Zero site. Many could be sickened for years as a result.... "We're here like beggars, asking the federal government, 'Please come and help us," Thomas Scotto, Detectives' Endowment Association ... (AP/CBS, Jan. 28, 2003)
  
• Rescuers have health problems from World Trade Center site ... CINCINNATI -- Half of the rescuers from Ohio who were sent to the World Trade Center after the terrorist attacks have suffered health problems since then, officials said Monday. Most of the problems are respiratory ailments including asthma, bronchitis and sinusitis, but stress ailments also have been detected in some of the rescue workers ... (The Advocate/Associated Press, By John Nolan, January 28, 2003)
• Ground Zero Workers Afflicted, Study Finds: Tests Show Physical, Psychological Ills Persist Nearly a Year After Rescue Efforts ... "This group of workers and volunteers needs medical treatment," said Stephen Levin, medical director of Mount Sinai's Irving J. Selikoff Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine. "Long-term medical monitoring is key." ... Most of the patients in the study were telecommunications workers from Verizon and police officers who did not work directly at Ground Zero. They were not the most seriously injured in the rescue efforts. Levin said he expected that many other workers would have "at least as serious and probably more" serious ailments. (Washington Post, By Christine Haughney, January 28, 2003; Page A06)
• Study: Health Woes Linger in Trade Center Workers ... NEW YORK - A new study shows that many workers and emergency responders who volunteered in New York after the September 11th terrorist attacks have had lingering health problems related to their rescue, recovery, and cleanup work...Ten months to one year after September 11, 2001, 73% had symptoms or abnormal findings in physical exams indicating ear, nose, and throat problems. Doctors also saw evidence of lung disease in 57% of them. (Reuters Health, By Martin Downs, January 27, 2003)
• Study: Health effects linger for ground zero workers ... NEW YORK, New York -- A majority of ground zero workers screened for health problems 10 to 11 months after the terrorist attacks still showed lung, throat or mental ailments, according to preliminary findings released Monday. The federal screening program found that 73 percent had ear, nose and throat symptoms, and 57 percent had lung problems. (AP, January 27, 2003)
• Analysis Reveals Over 50% of Responders Experience Pulmonary, ENT and/or Mental Health Symptoms One Year Following NY Terrorist Attacks (Mount Sinai School of Medicine News Release, January 27, 2003)
  
• Most Ground Zero Workers Still Unhealthy ... (NEW YORK) "Our preliminary findings clearly demonstrate the need for the immediate screening of the WTC (World Trade Center) responders, as well as the provision of medical followup." ... It has offered free medical screening to anyone who worked at ground zero, including volunteers... It's scheduled to conclude in July 2003.(1010 WINS, Jan 27, 2003)
  
• Study Cites Health Woes of WTC Workers ... NEW YORK -- A majority of ground zero workers screened for health problems 10 to 11 months after the terrorist attacks still showed lung, throat or mental ailments, according to preliminary findings released Monday. (Associated Press Writer/NY Newsday, by Sara Kugler, January 27, 2003)
• Man With Few Trade Center Ties Traces His Asthma to 9/11 ... Glenn H. Abatemarco got sick two weeks after terrorists attacked the World Trade Center, and he has still not fully recovered his ability to breathe normally. That in itself is not terribly unusual. A lot of people in Lower Manhattan who were exposed to the acrid, alkaline dust and smoke from ground zero developed the persistent pattern of lung irritation known as World Trade Center Cough. (NYTimes - requires registration that is free, by Kirk Johnson, January 22, 2002)
• Scientists Find Geochemical Fingerprint Of World Trade Center ... Dust and debris deposits associated with the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center have left a distinct fingerprint on the sedimentary ... (Science Daily - 21 Jan 2003)
  
• Air of Uncertainty ... Coverage of potential health problems near Ground Zero was slow to develop, as many news organizations simply accepted the reassurances of the EPA. The episode underscores the difficulty of covering questions with no clear answers. (American Journalism Review, By Susan Q. Stranahan, January/February 2003)
• Scientists find geochemical fingerprint of World Trade Center collapse ... Dust and debris deposits associated with the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center have left a distinct fingerprint on the sedimentary record in New York Harbor, scientists have found. Their results appear in the January 21, 2003, issue of the journal EOS, a publication of the American Geophysical Union. This geochemical fingerprint, the researchers believe, may facilitate a better understanding of the short-to-medium term processes that affect the input, dispersal, and fate of particles and contaminants in the lower Hudson River.. The legacy of the World Trade Center attack, Olsen and colleagues found, is recorded in New York Harbor sediments as a layer containing high concentrations of several elements, copper, zinc, calcium, strontium, and others... The high levels of calcium, strontium, and sulfur concentrations found in the near-surface sediments of the cores, are consistent with presence of gypsum as a parent material. Gypsum is extensively used as drywall in building construction. Copper and zinc are also common components of building materials. The scientists observed that this near-surface sediment layer also contained silica-rich fibers and rods, which may reflect the input of fiberglass from ceiling tiles and other materials in the World Trade Center towers. "We also found, unexpectedly, short-lived radioactive iodine, produced for medical treatments and diagnostic procedures, in New York Harbor sediments," says Sarah Oktay of UMB, lead author of the EOS paper. "This is most likely related to urban waste-water discharges and appears to be unrelated to the collapse of the trade center buildings." (National Science Foundation Release, January 20, 2003)
• Study says dust samples collected from world trade center site ... Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center announced Wednesday that tests done on dust samples collected from the World Trade Center Rubble show ... The next phase of the study will look at the dust combined with respiratory infections, like the flu to see if it can make an illness worse. Those results should be ready in about two months.(WHEC-TV, NY - 15 Jan 2003)
• Bill would make EPA ombudsman independent ... The EPA's ombudsman would get expanded power to conduct independent reviews of federal cleanup decisions in the Superfund program under legislation outlined today by Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., and Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho. (CongressDaily, by John Stanton, January 14, 2003)
• World trade center attack asbestos health threat (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, by Andrew Schneider, updated: 01/13/2003)
  
• World trade center attack: Libby, Montana (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, by Andrew Schneider, updated: 01/13/2003)
  
• World trade center dust: U.S. geological survey analysis (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, by Andrew Schneider, updated: 01/13/2003)
  
• E.P.A. report says W.T.C. risks minimal ... People exposed to World Trade Center dust on and immediately after the collapse of the Twin Towers were at risk for sudden, acute respiratory problems and possibly chronic respiratory illness, according to a study released Dec. 27 by the Environmental Protection Agency. (Downtown Express, By: Elizabeth O'Brien January 08, 2003)
  
• Violation Delays WTC Study: Contract award was flawed, agency says ... A long-term health study of 200,000 people who lived or worked near the World Trade Center on Sept. 11 is in limbo. The federal government's General Accounting Office has determined that the contract process violated federal regulations. (NY Newsday, By Laurie Garrett, January 8, 2003)
  
• Health Effects at World Trade Center Debated ... NEW YORK -- Nearly 16 months after the collapsing towers of the World Trade Center poured a plume of toxic debris over Lower Manhattan, the dispute only grows among scientists and physicians about the health implications for those who live and work near the site of the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Two recently released studies, including one by the Environmental Protection Agency, indicate that those people are safe. But the studies say little about what the health consequences may be for those present during the first few days after the collapse. Since physicians still are treating nearby workers and residents as well as emergency personnel with medical problems, some researchers say that there is too little evidence to rule out any health implications. (Washington Post, By Christine Haughney, January 7, 2003)
  
• Nearly 200,000 People To Be Monitored For 9/11 Health Problems ... In what is being called the largest study of its kind ever undertaken, city and federal health leaders are reportedly planning to monitor near 200,000 people who were exposed to dust and debris from collapse the World Trade Center towers. (NY1, January 5, 2003)
• B'klyn pol: Add boro to study ... A City Council member is urging health officials to include Brooklyn in a massive study of people who inhaled the plume of World Trade Center smoke and debris... (NY Daily News, by Maggie Haberman, January 5, 2002)
• EPA's WTC Health Study ... The federal Environmental Protection Agency on Dec. 27 released a draft report on the health effects of exposure to airborne pollution from the World Trade Center's destruction. The EPA is accepting public comments on the study for 60 days, and has launched a peer review. The report, and a supporting study on the respiratory impact of WTC dust particles, is available at www.epa.gov/ncea/wtc.htm. (Tribeca Trib, January 2003)
• World Trade Center Environmental Impact Research Community Update (NYU Community Outreach and Education Program, COEP, Fall 2002)
  
• Study suggests W.T.C. dangers are less .. The dust unleashed in the World Trade Center attack contained fewer cancer-causing and other harmful substances than feared, according to an independent study released last week. (Downtown Express, December 31, 2002 - January 6, 2003)
  
• High PAH levels in dust from 9-11 disaster ... Researchers estimate that some 100-1000 tons of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were spread throughout lower Manhattan and beyond as a result of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City. The estimates are based on concentrations found in samples of settled dust in the first few days following the attacks from 14 locations around the epicenter of the disaster. ... EPA has classified PAHs as probable human carcinogens, and this paper shows that “there’s no question that PAHs were there in the initial plume,” says Philip Landrigan, a physician at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. “Whether or not any cancer will result as a consequence of exposure is really a question of how much people were exposed to and for how long that will determine the risk.” (Science News - January 2, 2003)
  
• Clinton: Report Shows Evidence That More Indoor Air Testing is Needed; Demonstrates Urgency for Health Tracking of Gorund Zero Workers (January 2, 2003)