The Far-Reaching Health Effects of 9/11 Air Pollution

Discover Magazine ^ | Sept 07 | unk

[Past Your Eyes]

First the people in the towers died. Then the rescue workers. Now first responders are succumbing to a 9/11 illness. The next victims: tens of thousands of ordinary citizens who worked and lived in Lower Manhattan—all of whom were told that the air was safe.

While the people who died in the towers and the first responders have gotten much attention from the nation and the press—witness the lead feature from 60 Minutes last night on first responders—the ordinary citizens have gone relatively unnoticed.

So Discover has released a package that focuses directly on this final group of 9/11 victims. The first part is a feature story on how the federal and city governments did not live up to their responsibility to protect the people in Lower Manhattan from air pollution. The second is an interview with Philip Landrigan, the doctor in charge of monitoring the far-reaching health effects of 9/11 on people in New York.

Discover is also creating a forum for people to talk about health problems caused by the pollution from the collapse of the Twin Towers. We invite readers to include their comments on this subject below—either about effects on their own health or their thoughts on the issue and how it's been handled.

We will gather the information presented in this forum and pass it along to medical authorities and members of Congress to help construct a clearer picture of the scope of the problem.

[Past Your Eyes]

I read the whole article in the hard copy of the magazine last night.

[metmom]

The first part is a feature story on how the federal and city governments did not live up to their responsibility to protect the people in Lower Manhattan from air pollution.

People were warned about breathing the air. What ought they have done? Glued face masks to people's faces?

Sometimes bad things happen. It's not the government's fault that SOMEONE flew two planes into the Towers. How much intrusion to we want, even if it's for out own good?

[theBuckwheat]

If 9/11 demonstrated anything, it was to prove that government has limits, and what can happen when people depend upon government to do things it is not well suited to do. 9/11 was nothing but a string of failures of “strong laws”, bureaucracies and policies from the beginning of the day to the end of the day. Indeed, 9/11 was made possible by failures of government that occurred years before 2001.

I fully realize that a lot of people almost worship government as an all-knowing, all-capable god that only need enough funding to meed “unmet needs”. But it is just not so. We ignore the limits of government to our own peril.

[Past Your Eyes]

I was heartened by most of the responses on the link I posted. Much better than the article itself.

[aaCharley]

Pretty interesting article in the WSJ only last week about the demolition of the Deutsche Bank Building. It pretty well covers the nonsense of the increased air polution. Also details the fabulous costs the nutters have incurred in demolishing the building.

http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/dhenninger/?id=110010565

However, if you have an interest in the continuing air quality at the ground zero site, you can look at the readings from the mandated airquality monitors by going to
http://www.renewnyc.com/plan_des_dev/130Liberty/air_monitoring.asp

and see the real time monitors.

So, if this site was the extreme hotbed of pollution,
Where did it all go? None in the air now.

[metmom]

When I was getting my degree in meteorology, there was a guy in my classes who was working for a company that did meteorological testing of air, water and soil samples.

He told us that the outside air in the Adirondics has higher levels of asbestos in it than is permissible by NYS law for indoor air in buildings. When the wind is out of the northwest, blowing over the cliffs on the northern shore of Lake Ontario, it went up even more. Asbestos is found widely in the mountains. It is, after all, rock.